Men’s basketball: UCI title take a beating

Barry Faulkner

LONG BEACH - Surging Long Beach State, not visiting UC Irvine,

appeared to be the team still contending for a Big West Conference men’s

basketball championship Thursday night before 2,624 at the Pyramid.

And, after an 86-70 win upped the 49ers’ winning streak to five games,

heading into a likely rematch with the Anteaters in the conference

tournament opener Thursday at the Anaheim Convention Center, UCI Coach

Pat Douglass is hoping his team’s 3-3 Big West finish is more an

aberration than an omen.

“We have a week,” said Douglass of his No. 2-seeded squad’s challenge,

should a string of probabilities pit the Anteaters (20-9, 13-5 in

conference) against departing coach Wayne Morgan’s 49ers (13-16, 9-9), in

a Big West quarterfinal Thursday at 6 p.m.

The loss removed all hope of a No. 1 conference tournament seed for

the defending Big West champions, who will be seeded No. 2, behind Utah

State for the conference tournament. But a Utah State loss Saturday at

Cal State Northridge, would make the Anteaters and Aggies co-champions.

“The thing was, Utah State had two tough games on the road this week

and, if we could have won tonight, we could have won or shared the

conference championship,” Douglass said. “There was a lot at stake

tonight. I thought we wanted it.”

The hosts, however, clearly wanted it more, bolting to a 22-9 lead in

the first 6:52, then answering a UCI comeback to take a 40-39 edge into

halftime.

UCI senior guard Jerry Green, who will likely be named Big West Player

of the Year for the second straight season next week, hit a three-pointer

56 seconds after halftime to put the visitors up, 42-40.

But a 15-2 Long Beach State run, which included 10 of sophomore Kevin

Roberts’ career-high 27 points, followed.

UCI junior Jordan Harris, who scored the Anteaters’ first 14 points,

18 of their first 19, and had 20 by halftime, stalled the surge with a

pair of free throws with 13:40 left.

But Roberts’ three-point play sparked an 8-2 run for the hosts and the

visitors never got closer than 11.

“We had trouble with their quickness,” Douglass said. “They beat us in

transition and we just couldn’t make any defensive stops. They were very

aggressive, created an up tempo and sustained it longer than I’d seen

them from watching tape. We talked at halftime about the key being the

first five minutes of the second half. Then, they got all the loose balls

and got the lead back to 11.

“Jordan kept us in the game with 20 points in the first half, but we

got no play from our front-line guys, our 4 and 5 positions.

Five UCI big men in those spots combined for 15 points, connecting on

just 6 of 19 field-goal attempts and 2 for 6 free throws. The shorter

49ers blocked seven shots.

Roberts, a 6-foot-7 forward, and 6-8 senior center Travis Reed,

combined for 46 points and 14 boards for the winners, who also received

20 points from senior guard Ron Johnson.

No one has been able to stop the 49ers, ever since Morgan announced

this, his sixth season, would be his last.

“We’re not trying to play a (spoiler) role,” Morgan said. “We’re just

trying to do what we’ve been doing all year, which is to play as hard as

we can. It has taken us a long time to get on track and we’ve had to make

a lot of adjustments, after losing guys to injuries. A lot of people

buried us and tried to put us away. But we’re still here.”

Harris finished with 29 points, one off the season-high he established

in a 75-69 home win Dec. 22 over the 49ers.

Green finished with 25 points, upping his UCI career record to 1,941,

just 21 shy of tying Long Beach’s Michael Wiley for the No. 6 spot in Big

West annals.