Slow motion

The post-Jerry Green era began with an L, and UC Irvine senior

Jordan Harris hoped the 63-56 loss to Cal State Bakersfield also

started a wake-up call for the Anteaters.

The Roadrunners, a NCAA Division II team which went 24-5 last

year, pulled ahead late and provided the Anteaters with memories of

2000.

“I hope (it’s a wake-up call),” Harris said of the loss Saturday

night at the Centennial Garden in Bakersfield. “I hope it’s like when

we lost two years ago in an exhibition game to South Dakota, which

was also a Division II team. They came to our place and spanked us.

We ended up winning 25 games that year. Hopefully this will work out

the same way. We just have to play better.”

Harris played in his first game since injuring his post cruciate

ligament four months ago.

The Anteaters, who went 21-11 last year and shared the Big West

Conference title with Utah State, went cold in the second half,

making just one of their first 16 shots. The Roadrunners took

advantage and built a 51-45 lead.

“Normally, we’re a pretty good shooting team,” said UCI Coach Pat

Douglass, who guided the Roadrunners to NCAA Division II titles in

1993, ’94 and ’97.

“Maybe it was their defense, but we could just find the basket. I

don’t have ny significant feelings about the loss. I would like for

us win any game we compete in. I would have liked for us to show the

quality of a Division I team, but we didn’t do that.”

Douglass kept UCI 7-foot center Adam Parada out of the game for a

significant amount of time in the second half. It appeared Douglass

was experimenting with different lineups, but that was not the case.

“Right now a lot of guys can’t go a lot of minutes,” Douglass

said. “We’re trying to keep people fresh.”

Douglass also mentioned the inexperience he noticed from his six

freshman, who saw their first action. It was the first game with UCI

for Jeff loger,

Nic Campbell, Ross Schraeder, DeVaughn Peace, Mike Efevberha and

Ryan Codi.

Campbell, a 6-6 guard/forward from Australia started the game,

while Gloger, a redshirt guard last year, played 26 minutes, one more

minute than Parada.

“We have six freshmen and at times we didn’t get the type of guard

play that we need to get,” Douglass said.

UCI shot 5 of 23 from the field in the second half. The Anteaters

also hit just three of their 21 3-point shot attempts.

Parada scored 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Stanislav Zuzak, a

6-10 junior, was the first player off the bench and he led the

Anteaters with 19 points.

“If it were my choice I would be playing in there,” Parada said.

“But we weren’t hitting our shots and I wasn’t doing any good in

there. I was getting double-teamed so maybe it was good to get (a

different lineup) in there. I’m learning a lot from (the loss). You

can’t take any team for granted. They were looking forward to this

game and they probably had this game circled on their calendar.”

The Anteaters led 34-32 at halftime. They, at times, displayed

good ball movement on their half-court offense. But, they also had

several breakdowns on defense. Bakersfield’s Fred Nichols led the

Roadrunners with 16 points, while Terri Miller (14) and Darmarius

Akins (10) also scored in double figures. Akins went with a quick

release and hit an eight-foot shot that banked in to give the

Roadrunners a 61-56 lead with 16 seconds left.

Harris had hit a three-pointer with 42 seconds left that left the

Anteaters still trailing, 59-56.

“We didn’t totally lose our composure, even though we weren’t

hitting our shots,” Douglass said. “We don’t have a margin for error.

We need to execute.”

Roadrunners’ Coach Henry Clark, who was an assistant under

Douglass during the ‘90s, was impressed with his team.

“I knew this team was going to come out and play hard,” Clark

said.

“I know Douglass wants to win another Big West title and I know he

wants to get deep in that Big West tournament.”

ZOTS: Clark was also thankful to play against the Anteaters, he

said.”I thank Pat for allowing us to play his team and allowing us to

get better,” Clark said. “It’s not everyday a Division I team will

come to a Division II school and play.” ... Saturday night’s game

featured a crowd of 1,631 ... Mike Hood, Nic Campbell, Jordan Harris,

Matt Okoro and Adam Parada started the game.

Cal St. Bakersfield 63, UC Irvine 56

Exhibition

UC Irvine -- Harris 11, Okoro 6, Parada 10, Campbell 0, Hood 4,

Gloger 0, Zuzak 19, Baskauskas 0, Efevberha 0, Ethington 6.

3-pt. goals -- Harris 2, Zuzak 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Technical fouls -- None

Cal State Bakersfield -- Nichols 16, Rajniak 2, Pinnock 8, Akins

10, Speer 8, Threatt 2, Johnson 3, Miller 14.

3-pt. goals -- Akins 1, Johnson 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Halftime -- UCI, 34-32.