March Madness for UCI

Barry Faulkner

Forty minutes of teeth-grinding basketball left the UC Irvine men’s

basketball team no closer to clarity concerning its Big West

tournament future than when it arrived Thursday night at UC Santa

Barbara.

The Anteaters (11-16, 6-11 in conference), like they had in eight

of their first nine road losses this season, led in the second half

(they were tied after intermission in the other). They were up, in

fact, 55-53, with a guaranteed berth in the eight-team tournament in

hand, until UCSB senior Branduinn Fullove drained a three-pointer

near the top of the key with 11.6 seconds left to thrill the

Thunderdom crowd of 2,191.

UCI, like it did in a hard-faught 59-56 home loss Saturday to No.

23-ranked Utah State, had the final possession with a chance to tie

the game.

But sophomore Ross Schraeder’s pull-up, 15-foot jumper along the

baseline, against oppressive man-to-man defense by 6-foot-5 Josh

Davis, missed badly as time expired, giving the Gauchos (15-11, 9-8)

a 56-55 triumph.

The win clinched fourth place for UCSB, which, as a result, will

get a first-round bye in the Big West Tournament.

UCI now must win Saturday night at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to

clinch a spot in the conference tournament. A UCI loss Saturday,

would force myriad tiebreaker scenarios to come into play to extend

its season.

But it might not have come to all that, had UCI not squandered a

33-22 halftime lead in a mere 3 minutes, 37 seconds after

intermission.

That’s all the time it took for the hosts to score 11 straight

points, including three balls by Jacoby Atako, Cameron Goettsche and

Fulllove. A Fullove alley-oop pass to Goettsche for a slam capped the

run that got the Gauchos, as well as their formerly frustrated fans,

fully engaged.

The two teams battled back and forth the rest of the way and a

three-pointer by Schraeder with 3:28 left put the visitors up, 52-49.

UCSB scored four straight to regain the lead, before UCI senior

center Adam Parada, held without a field goal for the third time in

Big West play this season, sank two foul shots for a 54-53 edge.

Parada blocked Casey Cook’s inside shot on the ensuing possession

and a jump ball call gave the Anteaters the ball on alternate

possession with 1:24 remaining. Parada hit the second half of a

double-bonus free-throw opportunity with 1:11 left and senior forward

Mike Okoro stole the ball with 48 seconds left to keep the Gauchos at

bay.

“I thought we had the game when Okoro got that steal,” UCI Coach

Pat Douglass said. “When that happened, I thought it might be our

ballgame.”

The ensuing possession, however, resulted in a Parada missing

everything on a turnaround 13-footer just outside the key with about

33 seconds left.

“We got the ball inside and Adam didn’t power up, but fell away,”

Douglass said. “He likes that shot. I don’t.”

Fullove, Big West Player of the Year last season when he led the

Gauchos to the program’s first Big West regular-season title, then

converted on the other end, but not, he later admitted, without some

good fortune.

“I was confused about where Coach [Rob Williams] wanted me when I

came out of the timeout huddle,” Fullove said. “But I slipped off a

backside screen and found myself open. I set my feet and was thinking

shot when I caught the ball.” Douglass said there was a

miscommunication by two defenders that allowed Fullove, who scored

all 10 of his points after halftime, to collect the ball beyond the

arc with an open look.

Okoro tried to run at Fullove, but Williams said the senior

standout merely increased the trajectory to clear the high-flying

Okoro and nestle in the net for the game-winner.

“It was a brilliant shot,” Williams said of the three ball that

extended his team’s winning streak over Irvine to five.

UCI, which saw Schraeder miss an off-balance three-point attempt

in the final seconds against Utah State Saturday, lost its eighth

straight road contest.

Douglass, while dejected about the outcome, had praise for his

players’ effort.

“I tought we battled and played hard,” said Douglass, who did not

second-guess the last possession.

“We had options on that play, but I’d just as soon have the ball

in [Schraeder’s] hands right there.” Schraeder finished with 12

points, including four more three-pointers, giving him 14 in the last

three games. He has averaged more than 19 points in that same

stretch, which began after sophomore guard Mike Efevberha, who had

hit one game-winning three-pointer and another to send a game into

overtime in conference play, was suspended indefinitely for violating

unspecified team rules.

Senior Stanislav Zuzak had a team-high 14 points off the bench for

the ‘Eaters, who missed eight of their first nine second-half

field-goal tries and were a dismal 5 of 20 from the field after

intermission.

UCI finished 37.5% from the field (18 of 48) and were outrebunded

36-30. Both teams had 10 turnovers, but UCSB also struggled from the

field, hitting just 17 of 48 for 35.4%.

Goettsche led the winners with 16 points and 11 rebounds and

Williams credited his inside defense, as well as that of 6-8 senior

Bryan Whitehead, for helping limit UCI’s frontcourt starters (Parada,

Okoro and junior Greg Ethington) to a combined 12 points and 12 rebounds.

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Big West Conference

UC Santa Barbara 56, UC Irvine 55

UC Irvine - Ethington 8, Okoro 0, Parada 4, Schraeder 12, Gloger 5, Zuzak 14, Hill 8, Baskauskas 4. 3-pt. goals - Schraeder 4, Hill 2, Ethington 1, Zuzak 1, Gloger 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - Parada. UC Santa Barbara - Cook 8, Fullove 10,

Goettsch 16, Brown 4, Atako 3, See 5, Jones 4, Davis 4, Turner 1, Whitehead 1. 3-pt. goal - Fullove 3, Goettsche 2, Atako 1, See 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - Goettsche. Halftime - UCI, 33-22.

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