UCI Hands San Jose the Ball and Game, 95-70

Scott Brooks had 30 points, but also a fat lip that would soon receive surgeon’s 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.

He got off easy.

Others who could talk, who hurt only when they watched the evening’s proceedings, kept their postgame analyses as brief as possible.

“Pathetic,” center Wayne Engelstad said.

“Wow,” Coach Bill Mulligan said.

Pathetic: Irvine shot 36.2% from the field for the game, 32.1% in the second half and 16.7% from three-point range.

Wow: Thirty turnovers. Can you believe it--a season-high 30 turnovers, coming on the heels of what was then thought to be an atrocious 23 turnovers last Thursday against Nevada Las Vegas.

Add 37 missed shots and 30 turnovers together and what do you get?

For Irvine, it’s 6-6 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., 11-10 overall, utter mediocrity. Two straight losses have left the Anteaters tied for fourth place with UC Santa Barbara.

At least for the moment.

“This keeps up and we’ll be down near eighth place,” Engelstad said. “We’ll get to play Vegas in the first round of the tournament.”

Once again, Irvine did itself in with a sleepwalk on the wild side. After opening a 15-12 advantage in the first half, the Anteaters then scored two of the game’s next 20 points.

They were down, 30-17, in a flash--never again to assume the lead.

And in the second half, after pulling to within six points at 47-41 . . . zzzz. Irvine nodded off again, getting outscored, 17-4, and the rout became official.

The Anteaters have experienced longer droughts before--remember that 20-0 beauty at Santa Barbara?--but Thursday Irvine may have set new standards in creativity. After committing a shoddy 14 turnovers in the first half, the Anteaters came back in the second with 16 more.

Included were runs of five straight and four straight turnovers.

“I called a timeout and looked at the scoreboard,” Mulligan said. “We were down by six points. 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.”

Engelstad committed seven turnovers by himself, not easy for a center who rarely puts the ball on the floor. No. 2 point guard Mike Hess had six turnovers and reserve forward Steve Florentine gave the ball away five times while playing just nine minutes.

“Florentine played like a dead man tonight,” Mulligan said. “And I didn’t think Wayne played well at all. We’ve gotten to the point where we depend on him. He can’t come up with a game like this.”

Engelstad also had three shots blocked by San Jose’s Gerald Thomas, three shots that especially galled Mulligan.

“He’s supposed to go to the hole when he gets the ball,” Mulligan said of Engelstad. “Instead, he shoots these little fadeaways and Thomas goes, ‘Happy New Year!’ ”

San Jose (7-5, 11-10) had much to celebrate. The victory moved the Spartans into sole possession of third place in the PCAA while atoning for an 89-84 defeat at Irvine last month. The 95 points were also the most scored by a Spartan team in two seasons.

Guard Ricky Berry led San Jose with 23 points and needed just 26 minutes to get them. George Puou added 18 points, followed by Thomas with 14 and Reggie Owens with 13.

Irvine had just two players 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.

He wasn’t able to talk, but on this evening he didn’t need to. Thirty turnovers said all one needed to know about this game. PCAA STANDINGS

Conference All Games W L W L Pct Nev. Las Vegas 10 0 22 1 .957 CSLB 7 4 12 11 .522 San Jose St. 7 5 11 10 .524 UCSB 5 5 10 9 .526 UC Irvine 6 6 11 10 .524 CS Full. 5 6 12 8 .600 Pacific 4 6 8 11 .421 N. Mexico St. 4 7 10 12 .455 Utah St. 4 7 11 12 .478 Fresno St. 2 8 7 14 .333