Even at Crawford Hall It’s Curtains for Irvine in Loss to Utah State

Once, Crawford Hall was an arena to be feared.

Opposing players came in here and giggled when they took a look around. They laughed when they heard how many people it held (1,467). They held their sides when they saw that one side of this hall was really a stage, complete with curtains.

It was easy to make fun of Crawford Hall, but never easy to win here. Entering this season, UC Irvine’s basketball team had won 36 of 40 games at home. The Anteaters were 10-0 here last year. They beat Fresno State and the University of Nevada Las Vegas here.

Crawford Hall used to be a pit. Now, for the Anteaters, it’s just the pits.

Utah State beat UC Irvine, 87-84, Thursday night in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game played at, yes, Crawford Hall.

It was the fifth loss at home this season for UCI, which fell to 4-6 in conference and 9-12 overall.

This has been a tough enough year for the Anteaters anyway, but losing at Crawford Hall, well, . . .

“It’s a little tough to take,” UCI Coach Bill Mulligan said. “If I had the answer, I’d give it to you.”

Winning shots used to fall for UCI at Crawford Hall. The ball wouldn’t dare jump out of the basket, not with 1,000 screaming fans pressed up against courtside.

But, the mystique seems only a memory now.

With one second left Thursday night, UCI’s Rick Ciaccio took the ball from beyond the three-point line and put up a shot that could have sent the game into overtime.

Not this season. Ciacco’s shot carromed off the backboard and UCI had lost another.

Junior Tod Murphy said playing at Crawford Hall used to be different. In the rare times that UCI lost here, Murphy would run off the court without speaking to anyone.

But UCI players don’t seem to be taking it so hard these days. Afterward, some joked with Utah State players as if it were just another game.

“I don’t know what it is,” Murphy said. “It’s strange. I can’t explain it. I’m used to winning here. We’ve got so many new players this year (six freshmen). Maybe they don’t realize the background we had here or the hex it put on other teams.”

Or maybe UCI just isn’t as good as in past years.

The Anteaters shot well as a team (53%), but made mistakes near the end that just didn’t seem to happen in years past.

With 25 seconds left and the Anteaters trailing by just two points, UCI had the ball. But freshman guard Rodney Scott threw the ball away to Utah State’s Bill Floyd, who was fouled going to the basket. He made one free throw, setting up UCI’s desperation attempt to tie the game.

This has been a long season for Mulligan, who has never had a losing season in 18 years as a head coach.

He said he all but predicted this outcome. His team was coming off victories at Cal State Long Beach and at New Mexico State.

“I could see this coming,” Mulligan said. “I told Bo (Assistant Coach Mike Bokosky) before the game. It was like now we were really big-time because we had won two on the road.”

UCI, to its credit, made it exciting throughout. And how’s this for a bright spot? Freshman forward Wayne Engelstad, who had been this team’s biggest disappointment, had his best performance of the season. He scored 18 points, hitting 9 of 14 from the field, and had 10 rebounds. At one critical stretch in the second half, he scored four straight baskets for UCI.

“I just felt like I was going to play my best game tonight,” Engelstad said. “I felt comfortable out there. There’s been some pressure on me. Everyone was saying how I was going to be a starter before I even got here.”

But Engelstad couldn’t do it all.

In fact, he and center Johnny Rogers couldn’t do anything in the final minute of the game. Both had fouled out.

Rogers, though a center, is probably the team’s best three-point shooter, but he didn’t geta chance to shoot in the end.

Utah State improved to 4-5 in PCAA play and 11-7 overall.

The Aggies had a four-point lead at halftime and kept the game close despite the face that their best player, forward Greg Grant, spent much of the second half on the bench because of foul trouble.

“I think we learned that we sometimes have to be able to play without Greg Grant,” Utah State Coach Rod Tueller said.

Jeff J. Anderson led Utah State with 25 points with guard Vince Washington adding 23. Grant had 16.

Rogers led UCI in scoring with 23 points.

But it wasn’t enough, not even in Crawford Hall.

Last season, UCI beat Utah State here on a last-second shot Ben McDonald.

But those shots aren’t dropping now.