‘Eaters shock Long Beach

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IRVINE — Instinct can be a difficult thing to shake.

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team, however, did just that in order to claim an 88-84 upset victory over Big West Conference-leading Long Beach State Thursday before 3,182 at the Bren Events Center.

Conversely, it was the 49ers’ inability to alter an instinctive reaction that may have cost them their best shot at victory in the closing seconds.

The Anteaters (10-11, 4-3 in conference) appeared to be succumbing to their team’s recent penchant for losing leads against Long Beach.

Though UCI made its first eight field-goal attempts and consistently grouped offensive spurts together in a startling first-half display, the visitors, the conference’s highest scoring team, chipped what once was a 25-point lead to a 49-33 UCI edge by halftime.

The 49ers (13-6, 4-2) continued to whittle until a three-pointer by senior guard Aaron Nixon — who netted a three-point buzzer-beater from the corner to defeat UCI in last year’s Big West Tournament semifinals — shaved the Anteaters’ lead to 69-68 with 7:41 left in the game.

But the hosts, who led by 20 early in last year’s home game against Long Beach, only to drop a 93-73 verdict to end their regular season, did more than hold their tenuous ground.

The Anteaters, relying on a balanced attack that produced five double-figure scorers, coolly, confidently, pushed the lead back to 80-72 after freshman point guard Michael Hunter connected on a drifting three-pointer from the left wing at the shot-clock buzzer with 2:07 left in the game.

After Long Beach’s Kejuan Johnson sank a three-pointer to cap a 9-2 run and rally his team to within 82-81 with 30 seconds left, UCI junior Chuma Awaji lost the ball out of bounds in the backcourt on the Anteaters’ next possession.

UCI senior Nic Campbell, however, stripped the ball from a driving Johnson on the subsequent possession and teammate Darren Fells collected it to set up two Awaji free throws (in the double bonus) with 15.3 ticks remaining.

Awaji, who came in shooting 81.3% from the foul line, made both, and the lead was 84-81.

Once again, UCI, which came in leading the conference in scoring defense (63.7 points per game) and shooting percentage allowed (38.9%), batted a ball loose after Long Beach dribbled to the frontcourt as time ticked down.

Johnson dived on the ball in a crowd of Irvine players and managed to wrestle away possession, in time to call the now-familiar impromptu timeout that has helped avoid many jump-ball tie-ups.

The only problem was, Long Beach, which had the possession arrow in its favor, had no timeouts left. The result was a technical foul and two UCI free throws.

Awaji, who made all six of his free throws in the final 15 seconds, stepped up and delivered to assure the home crowd it would have plenty to celebrate.

Not only did the victory help break a two-game losing skid to UCI’s biggest rival, it put the ‘Eaters back into the thick of the conference standings.

“We’re right there,” said Kelley, who posted career highs in points (15), rebounds (nine) and blocked shots (five). He led the winners in all three categories to give them their seventh win in nine home games this season.

“After the Fullerton game [a 71-68 defeat sealed with a buzzer-beating three-pointer by the Titans, after UCI had erased a 66-55 lead to pull even in the closing seconds Saturday], we felt we let one get away,” Kelley said. “But as the [Long Beach] game got close to the end, we kind of buckled down and found a way to pull it out.”

UCI Coach Pat Douglass was in a joking mood after what he called a big, big win.

“We played as well as we could play, but we were kind of running on fumes there at the end,” Douglass said. “That first half was about as good a half as we’ve had. It’s hard to have a big lead like that and be able to show composure and sustain it.

“I think this team is physically a little tougher [than recent teams]. We reeled a little but, but we hung tough. I’ve enjoyed this team’s competitiveness all year. We kind of needed that one.

“Long Beach has a nice club. At first, our defense was really good, but [the 49ers] were just waiting to explode on you. They’re hard to guard. They have good drivers, and when we tried to go zone, they started making those threes.”

UCI had two runs of 8-0, one of 7-0 and two more of 6-0 in the opening 20 minutes, when they sank 18 of 29 field-goal tries (62.1%), including six of nine from threedom.

Long Beach shot 60% in the second half (18 of 30) as Johnson had 14 of his game-high 23 points and Nixon had 12 of his 19 after intermission.

UCI finished at 51.7% from the field, to 46.2% for the 49ers.

UCI was bolstered by Patrick Sanders (14 points, five assists), Fells (12 points, eight rebounds), Campbell (13 points on five of eight from the field, including a team-high three three-pointers), Hunter (12 points), Adam Templeton (10 points) and Awaji (nine points and six boards).

Douglass singled out Campbell’s effort.

“For [Campbell] to get out of bed and help us get a victory was big,” Douglass said. “We wouldn’t have won the game without him.”

Long Beach State Coach Larry Reynolds said he told his players they were out of timeouts, but that Johnson’s ill-fated timeout was merely instinct.

Big West ConferenceUC Irvine 88Long Beach State 84Long Beach State -- Byrd 12, Johnson 23, Nixon 19, Houston 6, Darby 11, Dawson 10, Gant 3.

3-pt. goals -- Nixon 5, Johnson 5, Byrd 1, Darby 1, Gant 1.

Technicals -- Team 1.

UCI -- Kelley 15, Templeton 10, Fells 12, Sanders 14, Hunter 12, Campbell 13, Awaji 9, DeCasas 3.

3-pt. goals -- Campbell 3, Templeton 2, Hunter 2, Sanders 2.

Halftime -- 49-33, UCI.