Brooks Stars as UC Irvine Routs 49ers

The numbers suggested that UC Irvine guard Scott Brooks should have put his high-arching jump shot in storage for a while.

Brooks entered Thursday night’s Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game against Cal State Long Beach shooting 43.8% from the field. Since conference play began three weeks ago, he had shot the ball 48 times, making only 19.

“If I was a coach and a player was shooting like that, he wouldn’t be playing for me,” Brooks said.

But Brooks plays for Bill Mulligan, who decided to let the guard keep doing it until he got it right.

It happened against Long Beach as the 5-11 junior scored a career-high 23 points, including five of six shots from three-point range, to help Irvine score an 85-63 victory on its home court.

The win raised Irvine’s record to 5-2 in PCAA play and 9-7 overall. Long Beach is 1-7 and 5-14.

Johnny Rogers had a game-high 14 rebounds as Irvine outrebounded Long Beach, 40-24. And rebounding is supposed to be what Long Beach does well. The 49ers entered the game with the conference’s second-best rebound statistics.

Sophomore center DeAnthony Langston of Long Beach tied his career-high with 24 points to lead all scorers. But Irvine had four players in double figures and compiled its biggest margin of victory since a 99-75 win over Loyola Marymount on Dec. 27.

It was Brooks who frustrated Long Beach with his bombs-away three-pointers. Afterward, he chuckled when asked if Mulligan has given him the “green light” whenever Brooks thinks he has a shot.

“I sort of have a yellow light,” he said.