Fresno Comes Up Short at Irvine, 60-58

UC Irvine senior forward Johnny Rogers, pale and weak from the flu, never left his seat on the bench Thursday night at Crawford Hall in Irvine.

With 4:02 remaining in the first half, Rogers had to move over and let guard Scott Brooks pull up a chair. Brooks and Fresno State guard Leo Walker were ejected for their part in an melee near the UCI basket.

The Anteaters (11-9 overall, 7-4 in the PCAA) were fortunate to have a 12-point lead at the time of Brooks’ departure. They needed all of it to hold off Fresno State, 60-58, in front of a capacity crowd of 1,479.

Fresno State had beaten the Anteaters 19 times in 21 meetings.

The victory came after one of the Anteaters’ most embarrassing defeats of the season, a 71-55 loss to San Jose State last Sunday.

It came because UCI beat the Bulldogs at their own game--defense.

The Anteaters had a 59-58 lead when Mike Hess intercepted a pass near the Fresno State basket with four seconds to play, then hit one of two free throws. Wayne Engelstad knocked away a Fresno State pass in the backcourt and time expired, just when it had seemed the Anteaters would expire.

Said UCI Coach Bill Mulligan, drained himself from the Anteaters’ closest game of the season: “I knew from the beginning that John (Rogers) wasn’t going to be able to play. When Scotty (Brooks) got thrown out, we were down to six (players).

“Our intensity wore down late in the game, but that’s because we were tired.”

Tod Murphy, who was held to four points in UCI’s 53-48 loss to the Bulldogs in Selland Arena on Jan. 9, surpassed that mark less than two minutes into the rematch. Murphy had 15 points in the first half and finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals.

Reserve forward Troy Carmon had 14 points and 9 rebounds and was the biggest reason the Anteaters were able to compensate for the absence of Rogers and Brooks.

Irvine led, 35-26, at halftime. The Bulldogs pulled to within one point three times in the second half.