Barry FaulknerOther than some sterling first-half defense...

Barry Faulkner

Other than some sterling first-half defense and a three-point,

final-minute swish by senior walk-on Ryan Snook, there wasn’t much

that was memorable about UC Irvine’s 75-49 exhibition victory over

visiting Cal State Los Angeles Thursday night.

But that suits Anteater men’s basketball coach Pat Douglass just

fine.

“We have a tough tournament coming up [the season-opening Dell

Black Coaches Association Classic in Cincinnati, Nov. 15-17], with

three games in three days,” Douglass said after his team disposed of

the Division II Golden Hawks with little trouble. “That’s what I just

got done telling the guys in our locker room.”

Douglass’ pregame oratory must have encouraged defensive

intensity, as the hosts shuffled and swarmed in their man-to-man,

holding the visitors to just 21.4% shooting from the field (6 of 28),

before intermission.

Cal State L.A., making its season debut, hit 12 of 24 field-goal

tries in the second half to finish at 34.6%. But after UCI built a

39-20 halftime edge, holding the Hawks to single-digits the first

14:21 of the contest, the 1,420 in attendance hardly seemed to

notice.

“I thought we had much better defensive intensity,” said Douglass,

who was less than pleased about giving up 91 points in Saturday’s

three-point exhibition win over the EA Sports Southwest All-Stars.

“We didn’t give up as many easy buckets.”

Instead, UCI gave the visitors consistent grief, often limiting

them to perimeter passing that rendered the experimental trapezoid

three-second lane a no-Hawk zone.

“I thought our post guys did a better job of being more

assertive,” Douglass continued. “That was also much improved from our

previous ballgame.”

Keyed by its defense, which wound up forcing 21 turnovers, six of

which came during a first-half span of 9:02 in which Cal State L.A.

did not have a field goal, the Anteaters remained in command, after

quickly building an 11-2 lead.

The advantage grew to 29-7, before the Hawks found some offensive

success, paring the deficit to 35-20 with two minutes left in the

half.

But a 9-0 Irvine run spanning the end of the first half and the

start of the second, including three-pointers by Ross Schraeder and

Stanislaus Zuzak, virtually rendered the final 18 minutes a, well,

exhibition.

“Once we got the big lead, it was a little difficult to maintain

our intensity,” said Douglass, who saw his team hold an opponent

under 50 points just twice during last year’s 20-9 campaign in which

it set a single-season record for fewest points allowed per game

(64).

Sophomore guard Mike Efevberha, who scored 28 in the first

exhibition, led three Anteaters in double figures with 13 points. Two

came on a breakaway slam dunk after a steal that was part of a

six-point spurt that pushed the lead to 55-28 with 13:17 remaining.

UCI led by as many as 29, before emptying the bench, much to the

delight of the student rooters.

Schrader had 12 points and Jeff Gloger 11, while senior forward

Matt Okoro had a team-high eight rebounds.

David Conte, a redshirt freshman out of Costa Mesa High, scored

two points in his collegiate debut for the Golden Hawks.