Irvine Makes It Easy for San Jose, 95-70

Scott Brooks had 30 points, but he also had a fat lip that would soon receive stitches. It stung whenever he tried to talk, so Brooks politely waved off reporters in the aftermath of UC Irvine’s 95-70 loss to San Jose State Thursday night.

Others who could talk, kept their postgame comments brief.

“Pathetic,” said center Wayne Engelstad of Irvine’s shooting--36.2% from the field and 16.7% from the three-point range.

“Wow,” said Coach Bill Mulligan of the Anteaters’ 30 turnovers, a season-high coming on the heels of what was then thought to be an atrocious 23 turnovers last Thursday against Nevada Las Vegas.

Once again, Irvine, 11-10 overall and 6-6 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., did itself in by embarking on one of its renowned sleepwalking routines. After opening a 15-12 advantage in the first half, the Anteaters were then promptly outscored, 18-2--never again to assume the lead.

After committing 14 turnovers in the first half, Irvine came back after intermission with 16 more. Included were runs of five straight and four straight turnovers.

“I called a timeout and looked at the scoreboard. We were down by six points,” Mulligan said. “A minute later, we’re down by 20. Then we cut it to 12. A minute later, we’re down by 25. We take it out and turn it over.”

San Jose (11-10, 7-5) capitalized often enough to score 95 points, the most scored by a Spartan team in two seasons. Ricky Berry totaled 23 points in 26 minutes, followed by George Puou with 18 points, Gerald Thomas with 14 and Reggie Owens with 13.

Irvine had just two player score in double figures. Brooks hit 9 of 16 field goal attempts for 30 points and Engelstad 6 of 16 for 17.

Brooks left the game prematurely after taking one of San Jose guard Anthony Perry’s elbows in his mouth. The collision produced a deep cut on Brooks’ lower lip, which was expected to take four stitches to close.