Hood-winked

Steve Virgen

Just three days ago, UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said his

veterans didn’t step up and his men’s basketball team lost, 66-65, in

overtime to Cal State Fullerton. But, this time, again in crunch

time, Douglass’ veterans responded, leading UCI to an 81-77 victory

at UC Riverside. This Big West Conference game featured 19 lead

changes and 11 ties.

UCI senior Jordan Harris scored a game-high 20 points, while the

Anteaters’ only other senior, Mike Hood, came off the bench to

contribute 11 points and added heroics in the game’s closing moments.

“We had a lot of contributions from different players,” Douglass

said. “We faced some adversity on the road. We talked about adversity

coming into this game and we hung tough. We got leadership from Hood

and Jordan. Everyone contributed.”

Hood hit a 5-foot running jumper along the baseline with 29

seconds left to give UCI (8-4, 2-1 in the Big West) a 78-77 lead.

Then, Mark Peters’ three-point shot attempt went off the back of the

rim for UCR (2-8, 1-3) with 15 seconds remaining and UCI junior

center Adam Parada, who scored 11 points, grabbed the rebound. Parada

delivered a quick pass to Hood, who was fouled with 11.1 seconds

left. The Highlanders called a timeout to add pressure on Hood. But

the senior calmly knocked down both foul shots.

Riverside then committed a turnover, when John Galbreath

mishandled a pass that rolled out of bounds with 3.6 seconds left.

UCI freshman Jeff Gloger, who scored nine points and recorded five

steals, made the second of his two free throws to secure the win.

Gloger also grabbed a key offensive rebound to give UCI a second

chance that set up Hood’s baseline shot.

“That has to help his confidence,” Douglass said of Hood. “Jeff

Gloger continues to spark us. I thought that was Greg Ethington’s

best outing. He’s been away for two years and I think he’s starting

to show signs now.

“We’re going through some growing pains and this is a great win

for us,” Douglass added.

Douglass also said junior Matt Okoro, who scored 10 points off the

bench, “did a great job guarding Nate Carter.”

Carter, a freshman who entered Saturday’s game leading the Big

West in scoring, was held to 16 points, three points below his

average. Carter was 6 of 6 from the field. He had four points in the

first half, a first half that Harris owned for the most part.

Harris, the 6-foot5 forward who tied his career-high for

three-pointers in a game with four, scored 13 points in the first

half. He hit his first three three-point shot attempts and scored 10

of the Anteaters’ first 12 points.

“We had more emotion at the end of the game this time because we

just lost a close one to Fullerton,” Harris said. “We did creep back

into that game, but we pretty much let that game slip out of our

hands. This time we paid attention to details. We were focused. There

was a lot more emotion. It’s a good feeling to win a close one like

this.”

The 1,226 fans at UCR’s Student Recreation Center made their

presence felt responding to the back-and-forth action of Saturday

night’s game. Peters sent a picture-perfect alley-oop pass to Aaron

Hands who threw it down with 48 seconds left that gave UCR a 77-76

lead and the crowd went into a frenzy.

However, UCI answered with its veterans.

“It was an exciting game for the fans, but it wasn’t very exciting

for me,” said UCR Coach John Masi, whose squad is in its final year

of Big West Tournament non-eligibility after moving over from NCAA

Division II competition. “If you’re losing games, it’s not very

exciting. The fans love it. I’m sure it was very exciting for (the

media).”

Douglass also commented on the game’s excitement.

“The thing that people don’t realize is that when you get to

league, everyone is focused and they learn their lessons from

preseason,” Douglass said. “We knew we would have a tough game. That

was a pretty good ballgame for us to be able to win. It wasn’t like

we came over here and we weren’t prepared. Riverside stepped it up.”

ZOTS -- UCI junior forward Stanislav Zuzak, who scored nine

points, was back in the starting lineup after coming off the bench

for the past five games ... Parada struggled with foul trouble. He

picked up his fourth foul with 12:45 left, but he stayed away from

fouling out, and scored six points in the final 4:45.