Hole grows deeper

Barry Faulkner

After falling, 62-54, to Big West Conference visitor University of

the Pacific Thursday to extend its losing streak to four and drop to

9-10, 4-6 in conference, a fair question regarding the UC Irvine

men’s basketball team might be: Where do the Anteaters go from here?

For the first time all season, UCI Coach Pat Douglass said he may

or may not turn to the familiar faces that have anchored the starting

lineup, to lead the ‘Eaters into their immediate future.

“We’re going to find people who want to fight through it,”

Douglass said, after watching starters Jeff Gloger, Mike Efevberha

and Adam Parada combine for nine points against the Tigers (14-7,

9-1).

“We have some seniors who have never been through this [losing].

But we’re going to battle back and [as coaches] continue teaching our

players how to play and compete. We’re not in a position to compete

for a league title right now, but we’re going to keep competing.”

One such competitor was 6-foot-8 junior Greg Ethington, who scored

a career-high 17 points and grabbed four of his five rebounds on the

offensive end.

“Ethington had one of his better games,” said Douglass, who did

not have the luxury of Ethington’s services in a 67-52 loss at UOP on

Jan. 10. Ethington was sidelined the first four conference games due

to an academic issue.

Ethington, who at 250 pounds provided a more formidable presence

against the Tigers’ aggressive post patrol, basically took over for

Parada, a 7-0 senior who played just 21 minutes, six after

intermission, and finished with one point.

Parada, who had averaged 17.3 points and 10 rebounds over the

previous three games, to take over the team lead in both statistical

categories, also managed just one point in the first meeting against

Pacific.

“We’ve watched a lot of tape on them and discovered Parada doesn’t

like a lot of contact inside,” UOP Coach Bob Thomason said. “He likes

space in there. So, our challenge was for our big guys to beat him to

the spot inside. We were able to do that.”

Parada, who had a season-high 26 points and a team-high 11 boards

in Saturday’s loss at Idaho, missed both of his field-goal attempts

Thursday. He went 0 for 1 from the field in the first Pacific

meeting.

“I’m surprised, too,” Thomason said of Parada’s lack of

production, which included one rebound and one steal. “There’s no way

I thought he’d have just one point again tonight.”

Ethington, whose previous career-high was 13 points -- at Stanford

last season -- made 8 of 18 field-goal tries, including his only

three-pointer.

After UCI made just two of its first 20 second-half field-goal

attempts, Ethington, shooting with both his right and left hands

inside, scored six of the next seven Irvine points to help keep the

deficit to seven points with 7:01 left in the game.

UOP senior guard Miah Davis, who poured in a career-high 26 points

on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4 of 7 from three-point range, then

netted a three ball to start a 5-0 UOP run.

But UCI answered with an 8-2 surge, capped by a Ross Schraeder

three-pointer, that drew the hosts within 56-50 with 3:07 left.

Davis, however, broke the Anteaters’ backs with a three-pointer

from the left wing to beat the shot clock on the ensuing possession

and UOP, now on a five-game winning streak, was not threatened again.

“Miah was awesome,” Thomason said of his veteran floor leader. “He

got a concussion in the Utah State game [Jan. 15] and missed our game

at Idaho two days later. But ever since, he has been our heart and

soul, both offensively and on defense. I told him if I’d have known a

concussion was going to do that for his game, I’d have slugged him

with a two-by-four a long time ago.”

UCI senior forward Stanislav Zuzak added 15 points for the hosts,

who made just 19 of 55 field-goal attempts (34.5%). It was UCI’s

third-poorest shooting performance of the season. The Eaters shot

just 34% at UOP and 31.4% in a Dec. 20 loss at Sacramento State.

“We got the ball inside, we just didn’t convert,” said Douglass,

whose team’s shooting woes helped UOP overcome a 34-29 rebounding

deficit. UCI had 19 offensive rebounds to the Tigers’ eight.

Gloger (six points and a team-high six rebounds) and Efevberha (a

season-low two points), have slipped into an offensive slump. They

combined for just 10 points at Idaho and Efevberha, just 1 of 7 from

the field Thursday, is now a mere 7 of 24 from the field (29.2%) his

last three contests.

ZOTS -- Thursday’s UC Irvine loss, combined with a Long Beach

State loss at home against Cal State Northridge and Idaho’s home

triumph over UC Santa Barbara, means UCI, Long Beach, Northridge and

Idaho are 4-6 in conference. The foursome sits two games behind

third-place UCSB, five games behind second-place Pacific and six

games back of Utah State. UC Riverside, idle Thursday, is 3-6, while

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is 3-7 and Cal State Fullerton 2-7 ... UCI

will attempt to bounce back Saturday with a 7:35 p.m. home date with

Northridge. The game is homecoming for UCI and festivities will

include a doubleheader with the women (who host Northridge at 5:15).

The three latest inductees into the UCI Athletic Hall of Fame,

inducted at a brunch ceremony Saturday, will also be introduced

during the men’s game. They are Greg Jablonski (men’s tennis), George

Newland (men’s water polo) and Tim Tift (men’s basketball coach and

administrator) ... UOP’s victory Thursday, only its fourth win in the

last 11 meetings with UCI, gave the Tigers a 30-29 lead in the

all-time series ... The win was also the 325th Bob Thomason has been

involved with as either a player or coach at the school ... Thomason

played at Pacific from 1968-71, where his teammates included UCI

Coach Pat Douglass. The two are best friends and speak by phone about

two or three times a week ... Former Northridge starters Joe Frazier

and Chris Davis were suspended for the season last week by Coach

Bobby Braswell. Frazier scored a team-high 14 points in a 72-56 home

loss to UCI Jan. 8.

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Big West Conference

Pacific 64, UC Irvine 52

Pacific -- Maraker 10, Korajkic 3, Yango 8, Davis 26, Doubley 2, Cockle 5, Newton 5, Purnell 3, White 2. 3-pt. goals -- Davis 4, Maraker 2, Korajkic 1, Purnell 1, Cockle 1. Fouled out -- None. Technicals -- None. UC Irvine -- Zuzak 15, Okoro 6, Parada

1, Gloger 6, Efevberha 2, Ethington 17, Schraeder 5. 3-pt. goals -- Zuzak 2, Schraeder 1, Ethington 1. Fouled out -- None. Technicals -- None. Halftime -- UOP, 28-26.

*--*