Men’s basketball: UCI steals one from Vandals

Amara Aguilar

BREN EVENTS CENTER - Looking at things from the outside, it was the

inside game that counted for UC Irvine in a 52-38 Big West Conference

men’s basketball victory over visiting Idaho Thursday.

In the center of it all was 7-foot sophomore Adam Parada, who scored a

career-high 24 points to compensate for the Anteaters’ 0 for 10

performance from three-point range. He also grabbed a game-high 13

rebounds.

Entering the week, UCI led the conference in three-point field goal

percentage (.395) and was ranked No. 21 in the nation in that category.

“It was one of those nights (for us at the three-point line),” Parada

said. “We just have to pull from other places. If it’s not working

outside, you have to go inside. That was our whole plan just to get it to

me and they fouled me four or five times with the ball, so I’ve been

practicing free throws for situations like this.”

Parada was 6 of 7 from the free-throw line for the conference-leading

Anteaters (17-6, 10-2 in the Big West). He combined with UCI’s all-time

leading scorer senior guard Jerry Green (19 points) to account for all

but nine of UCI’s points.

“I don’t know what you can do to shut (Parada) down,” Idaho Coach

Leonard Perry said. “He’s a big player. He’s skilled and he’s good. I

thought our kids fought hard.”

UCI came out shooting in the first half, going on an 11-0 run. Idaho

(7-14, 4-8) missed its first six shots and did not score in the first

6:29.

The Vandals came alive with back-to-back three-pointers from Bethuel

Fletcher and Justin Logan to pull within five, 11-6. Idaho could close

the gap no more.

“Our team has a tendency to go through spurts where we don’t score at

all, and you can only hold (UCI) for so long,” Perry said. “I thought we

were doing as good a job defensively as we could and we stopped them at

some very important points in the game, but we couldn’t come down and

score to chop into the lead.”

The Anteaters took a 29-22 lead at halftime, despite hitting only

eight of 25 field goals (32%). For the game, UCI made a season-low 18 of

55 field goals (32.7%). The squad led the conference going into the game

in field goal percentage (.495) and was fourth in the country at the

beginning of the week.

The Vandals didn’t do much better with their field goal percentage,

hitting 16 of 48 in the contest (33.3%). The Anteaters did have the

advantage under the boards, piling up 48 rebounds to Idaho’s 25.

“In our last game we made all our outside shots,” UCI Coach Pat

Douglass said. “We took the three. We didn’t make our shots tonight, but

I thought our defense and offensive rebounds were there. (The Vandals)

are a tough team to play. With the pace they play at, each possession is

important.”

UCI started the second half much like it began the first, with a big

run. The Anteaters went on a 9-2 spurt after the break, with seven of the

points coming from Parada.

Matt Okoro chipped in with five points and five rebounds for UCI. J.R.

Christ grabbed 10 rebounds for the Anteaters, followed by Jordan Harris

with nine.

“We just came in and went with our game plan,” Parada said. “I have to

give a lot of credit to the other guys getting me the ball. Without them

it wouldn’t have happened. We had some good passing.”

Leading the Vandals were Marquis Holmes (nine points), Rodney Hilaire

(seven points) and David Howell (seven points). Moe Jenkins, who entered

the game as Idaho’s leading scorer with a 10.6 points per game average,

was held scoreless. Justin Logan, who went into the contest second in

team scoring with a 9.2 points per game average, had three points.