UCI starts fast, but fizzles

IRVINE ? The UC Irvine men’s basketball team emerged from its eight-day layoff bombing away against Long Beach State. But it was the Anteaters who came away shellshocked after a 93-73 Big West Conference loss in their final home game of the season.

UCI (16-12, 10-4 in conference), which last played on Feb. 23 and had gone 16 days since its last conference game (Feb. 15), made seven of its first eight three-point shots on its way to a 31-10 lead with 11:49 left in the first half.

The ‘Eaters, who had already secured the No. 2 seed and a guaranteed semifinal berth in next week’s conference tournament, were 9 of 13 from beyond the arc just more than eight minutes into the contest. Third in the nation in three-point shooting percentage (42%), Coach Pat Douglass’ squad finished the half 10 of 18 from three-point range (55.6%).

But Long Beach State (16-11, 9-5), which finished third in the conference, weathered the early bombardment before answering impressively.

Long Beach used a 12-0 run to close to within 33-25 with 5:11 left in the first half and pared the deficit to 46-40 by halftime.

After UCI scored six of the first eight points after intermission, the 49ers used a 13-2 spurt to take a 55-54 lead.

After a three-pointer by UCI guard Ross Schraeder, Long Beach State went on an 18-4 run, capped by a 12-0 burst, to push the lead to 73-61.

The onslaught continued, leaving the Anteaters somewhat dazed heading into next week.

“I’m shellshocked right now and I can’t think about [the tournament],” Douglass said.

“I didn’t really know what to expect [against Long Beach], not having played for so long. I thought our legs would be fresh, but my concern was whether or not we could play with intensity for 40 minutes.

“They’re second in the nation in scoring [83.7 points per game], so they’re not the type of team you can take a break against. We just didn’t have an answer for them.”

The 49ers penetrated at will and finished with 40 points in the paint, to UC Irvine’s 16.

Long Beach State, which committed only five turnovers, also built a 34-0 edge in points off turnovers.

“Our guys came in with an attitude about them,” Long Beach State Coach Larry Reynolds said. “This game was probably bigger for us than it was for [UCI]. I told our guys [in the first half] that [the Anteaters] have to come back to earth. We just had to stay with it and keep plugging. They’re one of the best three-point-shooting teams in the country and we knew we weren’t going to match that. So, we had to try to find a way to get through it and that was defending and driving the ball to the basket.”

Schraeder, who made his first four three-point attempts and his first six field-goal tries on his way to a game-high 25 points, said the layoff may have hurt the Anteaters’ defense and rebounding.

“We came out on fire, but we kind of backed off a little bit,” Schraeder said. “I think the layoff affected us on some of the little things. We know what we need to tighten up. We’ve got to pick up our defense and rebounding.”

Schraeder finished 9 of 11 from the field, 5 of 6 on three-point attempts, and was 2 of 2 from the line.

Senior Shamar Armstrong had 11 points, including three three-pointers, while senior Aaron Fitzgerald had nine points, 10 assists and five of UCI’s 22 turnovers.

UCI made 13 of 27 three-point tries (48.1%) and finished 53.1% from the field.

Long Beach State shot 64.7% in the second half to finish at 52.1% from the field.

Aaron Mixon led five 49ers in double figures with 24 points.

Schraeder, Fitzgerald, Armstrong, Adam Metelski and Jeff Gloger were recognized in a postgame ceremony honoring the UCI seniors making their final appearance in the Bren Events Center.