Irvine Blows Big Lead but Wins, 86-80

The latest trend at UC Irvine entails an otherwise competent offense, complete with one of the leading three-point scorers in the West, abruptly--and without warning-- pulling up dead on its feet.

It has happened in three straight games now, twice enabling opponents to outscore the Anteaters by 20 points in a matter of minutes.

Thursday night, Irvine pulled its snore-and-bore routine long enough to blow a 19-point second- half lead to New Mexico State, but this time the Anteaters didn’t continue sleepwalking all the way to defeat. They woke up just in time to hold on for an 86-80 victory before 1,531 fans at the Bren Center.

Credit Scott Brooks with the wake-up call. His slump had paralleled Irvine’s of late--he shot 38% in the previous three games--but against the Aggies, he scored 7 critical points in the final 4 1/2 minutes. Brooks wound up with 32 points, and Irvine wound up with its fifth Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. victory.

Irvine (10-8, 5-4) opened a 19-point lead over New Mexico State (8-10, 2-5) with 16:11 left when Brooks hit a three-pointer from the right side, giving the Anteaters a 61-42 advantage.

Less than 10 minutes later, the Anteaters trailed, 71-70.

The Aggies’ 29-9 run included scoring bursts of 8-0 and 12-2. For Irvine, it was a horrid stretch of basketball, but it wasn’t anything new. In the last week, the Anteaters were outscored, 20-0, by UC Santa Barbara and 42-17 by Cal State Long Beach.

“Pretty soon,” Irvine center Wayne Engelstad offered, “we should be able to recognize these things.”

Correcting them apparently is another matter. With guard Joe Buchanan hospitalized with an abdominal ailment and Coach Bill Mulligan experimenting with different lineups, the Irvine offense usually is reduced to three words:

Shoot, Brooks, shoot.

For opposing defenses, this simplifies matters tremendously. Brooks had opened the second half with four consecutive three-pointers, so New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy scrapped his match-up zone and went man to man.

Brooks was temporarily silenced, and the Anteater attack went comatose.

Or, as Mulligan put it, while grabbing his throat: “They took away Brooks and the other four guys went, ‘Aargh.’ “They quit shooting, they quit rebounding . . . they quit everything.”

When Irvine slipped behind, 71-70, with 6:25 left, Mulligan changed offenses. The object was to free Brooks from the defensive hounding of Blaine DeBrouwer.

The new offense called for Brooks to work off picks set for him at the top of the key. Brooks immediately hit a jump shot and drew a foul, sinking the free throw to regain the lead.

Brooks also had two steals in the final 80 seconds, turning one into a fast-break layin. Brooks finished with 10 field goals in 16 attempts, 7-of-11 from three-point range, offsetting the 33 points by New Mexico State’s Kenny Travis.

Engelstad added 19 points for Irvine and forwards Frank Woods and Rob Doktorczyk had 11 and 10, respectively.