College men’s basketball: UOP drops UC Irvine into second place,

73-61

STOCKTON - There would be no furious rally or late magic this time

for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team.

After recovering from an 11-point deficit to pull within five with two

minutes remaining Saturday night, the Anteaters could get no closer as

host University of the Pacific defeated UCI, 73-61, in a Big West Conference game before 3,346 at Spanos Center.

Irvine (18-8, 11-4 in the Big West) dropped to second place in

conference behind Utah State, which beat UC Riverside, 59-42, Saturday in

Logan, Utah.

UCI started the week averaging 8.5 rebounds a game more than its Big

West opponents, but the Tigers (15-9, 7-7) dominated the glass and

outrebounded the ‘Eaters, 38-22.

Last year, UCI rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit to beat UOP

at Spanos Center, 85-80, and earlier this season at home the ‘Eaters

trailed UOP by 15 at halftime before coming back to win, 62-58.

But this time the Tigers kept the door shut, sinking 7 of 7 free

throws in the final 1:31.

Pacific, which knocked the Anteaters out of the Big West Tournament

last year to deny the regular-season conference champions a finals berth,

shot 50% from the field (26 of 52) and scored 15 points after offensive

rebounds.

After UCI 7-foot sophomore center Adam Parada converted a three-point

play with 2:03 left on Jerry Green’s sixth assist to cut Pacific’s lead

to 64-59, the Tigers outscored Coach Pat Douglass’ visitors, 9-2, down

the stretch.

Green, who scored 10 points and moved into ninth place on the all-time

Big West scoring list at 1,864, struggled from three-point range (0 of 6)

and misfired on his last four attempts from the field.

“Pacific played a very physical game and got into us inside and

outside,” Douglass said. “We were able to keep it close throughout most

of the game, but we could not quite close the gap when we needed to.”

UCI, which committed a season-low six turnovers, was led by junior

forward Jordan Harris, who scored a game-high 18 points and added six

rebounds. Harris drained 4 of 5 from beyond the three-point arc,

including three in the first half.

Junior guard Mike Hood had 13 points for UCI and hit two of his three

treys early in the game as Irvine built a 13-4.

Pacific, led by David Bunts in the first half with three treys,

rallied to take a 31-28 halftime lead.

Maurice McLemore led UOP with 17 points, while Demetrius Jackson and

Bunts had 13 each and Mike Hahn added 12. Eli Nolan had seven rebounds to

lead the Tigers.

Harris canned his first three-pointer with 8:00 left in the first half

to give UCI an 18-16 lead, but it was the last time the Anteaters would

enjoy the upper hand.

In the second half, Hood’s third trey of the game with 15:54 left

pulled Irvine to within 41-39, but Pacific followed with a 9-0 scoring

run.

Bunts nailed his fourth three-pointer with 9:06 to play to give UOP

its second 11-point lead, 57-46, then UCI chipped away again.

Parada, who picked up two fouls early in the game and sat most of the

first half, scored on a monster one-handed slam after an inside dish from

Green to cut UOP’s lead to 58-52 with 7:43 remaining. But McLemore

followed with six straight points for UOP, which had an answer for every

UCI run.

With two free throws, Green tied Tod Murphy for the career free-throw

mark at UCI with 488.