UCI misfires at UOP, 67-52

Barry Faulkner

The University of the Pacific missed its first 10 three-point

field-goal attempts and visiting UC Irvine missed its final 14. The

difference in the Tigers’ 67-52 men’s basketball victory Saturday

before 3,625 at the Spanos Center, was UOP’s ability to make the

Anteaters pay for their shooting struggles.

“I told our kids at halftime that the way we shot, we were lucky

we weren’t behind by 18 or 19,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said after

his team made just 5 of 21 first-half field-goal tries (23.8%), just

2 of 12 from beyond the arc.

“We had our chances in the first half,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass

said. “We just didn’t take care of the basketball.”

UCI committed 11 of its 15 turnovers before intermission, then,

perhaps drained by the stretch of four games in eight days,

floundered from the field after intermission, making just 8 of 30,

including the aforementioned 0 of 14 from threedom.

If the Anteaters were deficient outside (their 2-of -21

three-point performance totaled out at 9.5%), UOP’s defense helped

keep UCI leading scorers Mike Efevberha and Adam Parada on the

periphery, as well.

Parada, coming off his most productive three-game stretch of the

season (averaging 17 points and eight rebounds since Big West play

began), scored just one point, missed his only field-goal attempt --

an 18-foot jumper -- and managed six rebounds before fouling out for

just the second time this season. His first and only shot from the

field came almost 25 minutes into the game and he played only 19

minutes.

Parada’s scoring output was his worst in 81 games, dating back to

Feb. 22, 2001, his freshman campaign, when he went scoreless in a

home win over Long Beach State.

Efevberha, who came in with a team-best 13.6 per-game scoring

average and had posted double figures in seven straight contests,

finished with four points, all from the foul line. He was 0 for 7

from the field, including five errant three-pointers.

Sophomore guard Ross Schraeder, whose 25 minutes were the most he

has played since Game 4, was 1 of 8 from three-point range, though he

managed to match senior Stanislav Zuzak for team-high scoring honors

with 10.

Freshman starter Mark Hill made all three of his field-goal tries

and Aras Baskauskas added another without a miss, to help UCI avoid

even greater shooting futility. But the Anteaters finished just 18 of

53 from the field (34%), their second-worst percentage of the season

(they shot just 31.4% in a loss at Sacramento State).

Having survived its first-half cold spell UOP began heating up

after the break.

Junior reserve David Doubley hit a three ball with 14:09 left in

the game to give the hosts a 27-25 lead, their first since 4-2. The

bomb capped a 7-0 run that began with Miah Davis’ three-pointer.

UCI sophomore guard Jeff Gloger sank a putback 21 seconds later to

knot the score, but Pacific (9-6, 4-0 in conference) scored the next

six points and 10 of the next 12 to take command for good.

Gloger finished with nine points, eight rebounds and three

assists.

The Tigers made 17 of their final 24 field-goal attempts to finish

a respectable 45.8% for the game (22 of 48), though they wound up

just 5 of 20 from three-point distance.

Despite the loss, which dropped the ‘Eaters to 7-6, 2-2, Douglass

praised his team’s effort.

“Our kids played hard tonight, but we never established an inside

game,” Douglass said. “We battled, but we just couldn’t sustain

anything for two halves.” Thomason praised his team’s ability to

battle through its slow start and was beaming about an unbeaten

conference start that leaves the Tigers, picked in the preseason to

finish sixth by conference coaches and eighth by the media, atop the

standings, a half-game ahead of Utah State.

Doubley, whom Thomason said would be starting if not for a

lingering groin pull, finished with a team-high 16 points, while 6-foot-10 junior Tyler Newton came off the bench to post a

career-high 16 points.

Davis scored 15 and Christian Maraker added 14 to help the hosts

extend their winning streak to five.

UCI went the first 7:17 of the game without a point and made its

first second-half field goal after 6:12 had expired in the period.

The Anteaters, picked to finish third in the preseason conference

polls, will try to rebound Thursday, when they play host to UC

Riverside.

ZOTS - UC Irvine junior forward Greg Ethington (5.2 points and 2.4

rebounds per game) missed his fourth straight game because of an

unspecified academic-related matter. His availability for the rest of

the season should be known by Monday, a school spokesman said ...UOP

is 4-0 in Big West Conference play for the first time since 1996-97,

when it won its first seven conference games en route to the

regular-season Big West crown ... Saturday was UOP Coach Bob

Thomason’s 150th victory in the Spanos Center (which opened in 1981),

with only 50 losses in the 6,150-seat venue ... Thomason, the dean of

Big West coaches in his 16th season, has now participated in 320 wins

as either a player (1968-71) or a coach ... UOP’s win Saturday evened

the all-time series with UCI, 29-29 ... Thomason is now 10-8 against

UCI teams coached by Pat Douglass, his best friend and former UOP

teammate.

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Big West Conference

Pacific 67, UC Irvine 52

UC Irvine - Zuzak 10, Hill 6, Parada 1, Efevberha 4, Gloger 9, Schraeder 10, Okoro 7, Campbell 3, Baskauskas 2. 3-pt. goals - Campbell 1, Schraeder 1. Fouled out - Parada, Zuzak. Technicals - None. Pacific - Maraker 14, Cockle 2, Yango 3, Davis 15, Rose

0, Doubley 16, Newton 15, Korajkic 2. 3-pt. goals - Davis 2, Doubley 2, Newton 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None. Halftime - UCI, 22-18.

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