Anteaters show a little moxie

Steve Virgen

BREN EVENTS CENTER -- Exhibition games in men’s college basketball

do not figure into team records or statistics. The games are

meaningless in that regard. Yet for the UC Irvine men’s basketball

team, exhibition games apparently are great for making statements.

Anteater Coach Pat Douglass did not start 7-foot center Adam

Parada, who was second-team All-Big West a year ago, Friday night

when UCI improved from last week and scored a 77-67 victory over Team

Ezybonds of Australia in front of 1,075 at the Bren Events Center.

“Greg Ethington has been playing better in practice,” Douglass

said, explaining why he did not start Parada. “(Parada) needs to

practice harder to get in there ... that’s why Greg started.”

Parada, who had said this is his breakout season, said he has had

a bit of a setback in the past two exhibition games. He said he will

look to Oklahoma, where the Anteaters open their regular season next

week, to make a difference.

Parada did not play with the first team throughout practice this

week, Parada said. Ethington, a 6-8 sophomore who scored eight points

in 17 minutes, started with the first team this week.

Parada entered the action 2:27 into the game and ended up scoring

four points and grabbing eight rebounds in 22 minutes. He said he was

disappointed with his play.

Jordan Harris looked especially energetic, in his second game

since partially tearing his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments

a little over four months ago. He scored 14 points, including and

eight-foot fadeaway with 44 seconds remaining to put the Anteaters

up, 75-67. Then, 11 seconds later he went up and grabbed a rebound

and was fouled he made both freethrows to put the game out of reach

for Ezybonds.

“The more I play the more confident I get on it,” Harris said. “I

think it’s just a matter of getting my confidence back and going out

there and playing.

Stan (Stanislav Zuzak) was hitting everything and that really

helped. It’s going to take a while to get used to each other and play

together. But, it felt good tonight. We were playing real well at

times.”

Zuzak, a 6-10 junior forward, led UCI with a game-high 21 points,

on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. He hit 4 of 5 from three-point

range. He and Harris scored 10 points each in the first half when UCI

built a 39-25 lead and set

the tone with its perimeter shooting. The Anteaters hit 7 of 13

from three-point range (53.8%) in the first half. Hood, who was first

off the bench for UCI, was 3 for 3 on threes before halftime.

Hood, who scored 12 points, also nailed four of his five

three-pointers, as Zuzak or Parada would kick the ball out to Hood,

who was behind the arc.

“(Harris) had 14 points and 10 rebounds,” said Douglass, who also

mentioned Harris is at about 80% in regard to playing since the

injury. “Those are his old numbers. I don’t think he’s quite as

explosive, but when we get into (Big West) play we’ll see that.”

ZOTS -- Mike Efevberha, Hood, Harris, Zuzak and Ethington started

the game. Baskauskas started the second half, in place of Efevberha,

who missed badly on his first shot attempt at the Bren Events Center.

He did not draw iron, as the ball hit the backboard and was rebounded

by Ezybonds.

EXHIBITION

UC Irvine 77, Ezybonds 67

Ezybonds -- Green, 4, Anderson 11, Sedlock 8, Holmes 16, Cox 12,

Bevington 5, Fotu 6, Cioffi 3, Russell 2.

3-pt. goals -- Anderson 3, Homes 2, Fotu 2, Cox 1.

Fouled out -- Green.

UC Irvine -- Zuzak 21, Harris 14, Ethington 8, Baskauskas 2,

Efevberha 0, Glover 0, Campbell 6, Schraeder 3, Hood 12, Codi 1,

Okoro 6, Parada 4.

3-pt. goals -- Zuzak 4, Hood 4, Harris 1, Schraeder 1.

Fouled out -- none.

Halftime -- UC Irvine, 39-25.