UCI rally comes up just short at buzzer

Anteaters heat up after falling behind by 35 points to Pepperdine, but Ross Schraeder can’t connect on two three-pointers in final secondsMALIBU -- As the UC Irvine men’s basketball team caught fire in the second half Saturday night Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal’s thoughts turned to the refrigerator.

“One of the best moments of my career was when I was coaching [the Phoenix Suns] and we were playing the Lakers [in the early 1990s],” Westphal said after his Waves held on for a 79-76 nonconference win over the Anteaters. “We were down 10 with a minute to go and Chick [Hearn, the late Lakers announcer] put the game in the refrigerator. We came back and won and I always kidded Chick about that whenever I saw him after that.”

Most believed the jello was jiggling in this one, as Pepperdine (1-2) went on a 38-3 run in the opening half. The Waves were up, 47-17, at halftime and expanded the lead to 56-21.

But before the butter had fully hardened, UCI (3-2) -- which made just 5 of 30 first-half field goal attempts, including 1 of 15 from three-point range -- heated up to forge an amazing comeback.

The Anteaters made five three-pointers to help key a 19-4 run that brought them within 60-40 with 12:48 left.

After Pepperdine answered with a 7-3 surge, the visitors -- led by Ross Schraeder -- continued to chip away. When Shamar Armstrong buried a three-pointer with 2:34 left, the Anteaters had pared the deficit to 73-69.

Three free throws by Schraeder, who scored all 29 of his points in the final 20 minutes, brought the ‘Eaters within 79-76 with 17 seconds remaining.

After Armstrong rebounded the second of two missed free throws by Chase Griffin, the Anteaters worked for two Schraeder three-point attempts that would have tied it.

The first, on the right wing with seven seconds left, caromed long off the rim and out of bounds to the Anteaters with four ticks remaining.

Schraeder wound up with the ball near the top of the key on the inbounds play, but appeared to be affected by the presence of 6-foot-9 Cody Horning. The shot glanced off the front of the rim and time ran out before the rebound could be controlled.

“That performance by Schraeder was fantastic,” Westphal said. “I knew the Anteaters were a great shooting team and that they haven’t gone 1 for 15 [from three-point range] very often. But I didn’t think they were going to outscore us by 27 in the second half, either.”

“In the first half, we didn’t resemble the same team we had been in the last three games,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “We weren’t moving the ball in the first half and we weren’t burying very many shots. But we shot much better in the second half.”

The Anteaters also turned up the defensive intensity after the intermission. UCI limited Pepperdine, which shot 67.9% from the field in the opening half, to just 31% the rest of the way.

In addition to Schraeder, UCI got eight points and five rebounds from Darren Fells in the final 20 minutes.

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