‘Eaters’ rally unravels late

Barry Faulkner

As visiting UC Irvine kept creeping and creeping back into a Big West

Conference men’s basketball game it appeared as if it had been blown

out of Thursday night, Utah State senior Spencer Nelson was fighting

a creeping feeling of his own.

“When [the Anteaters] got within three, I actually did think about

it for one second that they have been doing a pretty good job at

having our number here [at the Smith Spectrum],” Nelson said.

In the end, however, there was no Logan magic this time, as the

Aggies (16-1, 8-0 in conference) held on for a 57-48 triumph before

9,037, most of whom voiced their extreme pleasure at defeating UCI

for the first time in three seasons in their own building.

“They came to play,” Utah State Coach Stew Morrill said of the

Anteaters, who saw an early lead evaporate on a 24-2 Aggie run

spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second. “They

were physical and took a lot of things away from us. They dared us to

shoot the ball from the perimeter. We were really tight in the first

half.”

The Aggies, who came in leading the nation with a 52.2 field-goal

percentage, shot a season-low 26.7% in the first half (8 for 30).

But, thanks to a 10-0 run the final 4:36 before intermission, they

came out of the halftime locker room with a 22-22 tie, as well as

renewed confidence.

That confidence carried through after UCI’s Stanislav Zuzak tossed

in a jump hook, to open the second-half scoring.

Then, Aggie senior guard Cardell Butler, who scored just 13 points

the previous two games to see his team-leading scoring average fall

to 13.4, started another cascade for the hosts.

Butler hit a three-pointer, then converted a traditional

three-point play within a 22-second span to spark a 14-0 surge. He

capped the run with a three-point play on an emphatic dunk that made

it 36-24 Aggies with 14:28 remaining.

That lead expanded to 46-31 with 10:03 left, before Irvine, now

1-5 on the road, rediscovered its offense and made things

interesting.

During the 24-2 Utah State flurry, which spanned 11:08, UCI

struggled to even find quality shots. In one telltale sequence, the

Anteaters followed a 35-second shot clock violation with an errant

25-foot desperation three-point try to avert another shot-clock

turnover.

But sophomore guard Mike Efevberha nudged the visitors back on

track by scoring seven straight Irvine points, then scored again in

the middle of a 6-0 UCI burst that cut the deficit to 46-37 with 7:54

left.

After a USU three ball, UCI senior center Adam Parada, who had

just two points and just three field-goal attempts to that point,

scored seven straight to pull the ‘Eaters within 49-44.

Jeff Gloger continued the Irvine comeback with a 19-footer to cut the lead to three with 4:13 left.

Butler, who scored 15 of his game-high 22 points after halftime,

gave the Anteaters another opportunity to close when he missed a

three-point try, but the rebound was collected inside by Nelson, who

was fouled and made both free throws.

Matt Okoro kept UCI in it with a layin off a Parada feed with 3:13

left.

Gloger rebounded a subsequent Aggie miss, but Irvine missed a pair

of point-blank attempts to give help the Aggies protect their lead.

That lead bulged to 54-48 when Butler hit the last of his four

three-pointers with 54 ticks remaining and Irvine could not break a

game-ending scoreless drought that lasted the final 3:13.

“We had a three-point game and the ball rolled around the rim on a

couple [UCI] shots inside,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “They’re

16-1 and a tough team to play, but I thought we played them well. I

think this is something we can use as a stepping stone. I think we

can still catch the teams at the top [of the standings]. We just

couldn’t muster it up tonight for 40 minutes.”

The loss dropped UCI (9-8, 4-4) out of a third-place tie with UC

Santa Barbara, which defeated UC Riverside, 66-62, Thursday.

Efevberha finished with a team-high 14 points for the Anteaters,

who wound up 19 of 50 from the field to post their lowest point total

of the season (a 52-point performance in a loss at Sacramento State

had been their worst).

Parada added nine points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots, but

the Anteaters managed just four points off the bench (all by junior

Greg Ethington).

USU, which got 12 points from sophomore Nate Harris, as well as

eight points and 11 rebounds from Nelson, who came off the bench in

his first game back from a broken nose, had 13 points and 15 rebounds

from its reserves.

With Utah State struggling form the field in the first half, UCI

seized leads of 9-2, 19-10 and 22-12.

ZOTS -- Utah State entered Thursday’s game ranked No. 2 in the

CollegeInsider.com mid-major Top 25 poll, behind Gonzaga ... The

Aggies also came into the game leading the nation in field-goal

percentage (52.2) ... The game pitted the two teams with the best

three-point field-goal percentage in the conference. UCI came in at

No. 1 (93 of 233 for 39.9%), while USU had hit 84 of 214 for 39.3%.

USU hit 7 of 19 from threedom, while UCI connected on just 2 of 12

beyond the arc ... Aggies Coach Stew Morrill noted before the game

how physical UCI is playing. This is high praise, since UCI Coach Pat

Douglass, citing Utah State’s superior physical strength in last

year’s 62-55 Big West tournament semifinal loss to the Aggies,

emphasized off-season weight training among his players ... With Utah

Coach Rick Majerus’ resignation Wednesday, early speculation for his

replacement includes Morrill, who is 134-43 in six seasons with the

Aggies, 352-181 in 18 years as a Division I head coach ... USU

entered Thursday with the nation’s fifth-best winning percentage in

the 2000s (79.7). The Aggies trail only Duke (86.7), Stanford (81.9),

Kansas (80.4) and Oklahoma (80.3) ...UCI visits Idaho Saturday night,

attempting to extend its winning streak over the Vandals (5-12, 2-6)

to eight ... The Utah State victory gave the Aggies a 27-26 lead in

the all-time series against UCI ... The Aggies, however, are only

15-10 against UCI at home ... USU has won 12 straight home games,

dating back to last year’s 59-58 loss to UCI.

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Big West Conference

Utah State 57, UC Irvine 48

UC Irvine - Zuzak 7, Okoro 8, Parada 9, Efevberha 14, Gloger 6, Ethington 4. 3-pt. goals - Efevberha 1, Gloger 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None. Utah State - Harris 12, Williams 0, Ahmad 2, Butler 22, M. Brown 8, Nelson 8, Huber 5. 3-pt. goals -

Butler 4, M. Brown 2, Huber 1. Fouled out - None. Techniclas - None. Haltfime - 22-22.

*--*