'Eaters shoot down 49ers

By Barry Faulkner

March 13, 2008 12 AM PT

ANAHEIM — Scoreboard memories gave way to muscle memory Monday for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team, which took advantage of some familiarity with the Anaheim Convention Center to torch Long Beach State, 77-63, in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament.

The No. 5-seeded Anteaters (16-15) shot a season-best 58.8% from the field (30 of 51), including a torrid 72% in the opening 20 minutes to advance to tonight’s quarterfinal against No. 4-seeded Pacific (21-9) at approximately 8:30 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Anteaters, who had been eliminated from the tournament the last two seasons by Long Beach, missed six of their first nine field-goal tries as the 49ers (6-25) built leads of 10-2 and 14-6.

But, starting with a 15-foot jumper by Kevin Rembert with 12:59 left in the first half, UCI connected on nine straight field-goal attempts. After missing with 8:10 left in the half, the ’Eaters made the final 10 shots of the half to take a sturdy 47-31 advantage into intermission.

“I thought for about the final 14 minutes of the first half, that’s as well as any team we’ve had play,” said UCI Coach Pat Douglass, in his 11th season at the school. “We had a lot of guys can shots to make the offense look a lot better. We had a lot of assists [19], so we were creating shots for each other. We’re pretty good shooters when someone is creating shots for us.”

UCI made eight of 17 three-point attempts (47.1%).

“Long Beach came out ready,” Douglass said. “They got into us. But our kids responded well and it was a remarkable first half for us.”

After a pair of three-pointers by 49ers guard Greg Plater put Long Beach State up, 24-23, with 7:43 left before halftime, UCI sophomore point guard Michael Hunter converted a four-point play — a free throw after a made three-pointer — to spark a 24-7 UCI run to end the half. UCI scored 18 of the final 21 points before intermission, 10 of those by senior guard Marcus McIntosh, who matched his career-high with 16 points.

McIntosh made seven of 10 field-goal tries, as the 49ers concentrated more defensively on seniors Darren Fells and Patrick Sanders.

“We were trying to help in on Fells a little bit with [McIntosh’s defender], so McIntosh had a little bit of room,” Monson said. “That can activate guys when you’re playing that way. He’s either going to explode or get tentative. And, unfortunately for us, it went the wrong direction. He got going on the bounce and we couldn’t get in front of him. When he banks in a three, you know he’s in a flow a little bit. You’ve got to make somebody other than Sanders or Fells beat you and that was our thinking there.”

Still, Sanders, a first-team all-conference performer, had 18 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block. He was seven of 14 from the field.

Fells, the conference’s leading field-goal shooter coming in (56.6%), was eight of 10 from the field on his way to 19 points. He also added seven rebounds and four assists.

Hunter had 12 points, while Rembert chipped in six points and three assists and junior Kevin Bland had five assists and five rebounds for UCI, which has won eight of its last 11.

UCI was 0-4 this season at the convention center, but having played here so often this season helped their shooting, said McIntosh and Fells.

UCI shot 56%, its third-best shooting performance of the season, in a loss to Chattanooga at the convention center on Nov. 23.

“[Those games] gave us the feel of the court,” McIntosh said. “It really was a big part of our shooting performance in the first half.”

Added Fells: “[The familiarity] did help a little bit, knowing how the floor and the baskets are.”

UCI led by as many as 20 in the second half, when Long Beach got no closer than 10.

But the 49ers battled to the end, not allowing Douglass to pull Fells, Sanders and McIntosh until just more than a minute remained.

More rest may have come in handy for UCI, which needs to win four games in four days to win the tournament and gain the conference’s lone guaranteed berth into the NCAA Tournament, a destination UCI has never been.

“The last eight to 10 minutes of the first half, with a combo of them shooting awfully well and us not defending, and all of a sudden, you know, our season comes to a close,” said Monson, whose team was swept by UCI in three games this season. “We just don’t have a margin for error to let a team light us up that way.”

Junior Donovan Morris had 25 points to pace the 49ers.

UCI split its games with Pacific this season, falling, 59-53, in Stockton on Jan. 19 and rolling, 74-59, at the Bren Events Center on Feb. 14.

Big West Conference Tournament

First round

UC Irvine 77, Long Beach State 63

LB –Williams 12, Lazdauskas 2, Morris 25, Plater 17, Clady 7.

3-pt. goals – Morris 5, Plater 3, Williams 2.

Fouled out – None.

UCI – Sanders 18, DeCasas 0, Fells 19, Hunter 12, McIntosh 16, Rembert 6, Lauer 6.

3-pt. goals – Hunter 3, Sanders 2, Lauer 2, McIntosh 1.

Fouled out – None.

Halftime – UCI, 47-31.