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Herdman Gets Well, UC Irvine Gets a Win

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Times Staff Writer

Two days ago, Jeff Herdman was violently ill with intestinal flu. Saturday night, he felt much better.

Nine years ago, Bill Mulligan referred to Fresno State’s deliberate style of play as “vomit basketball” and the UC Irvine coach has left this town feeling a little sick ever since. Saturday night, he felt much, much better.

Herdman, a sophomore sharpshooter from Mission Viejo, scored 29 points, and UC Irvine beat Fresno State for the first time at Selland Arena, 82-79, in a Big West Conference game before a crowd of 10,159.

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Herdman, who leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage, made 10 of 13 shots from the floor--including five of eight from three-point range--but it was his five-foot bank shot with six seconds left in the game that propelled the Anteaters to the win.

“This is not a big deal for me, you know that,” Mulligan deadpanned. “It was just another game.”

Even freshman Brian McCloskey, who didn’t play in the game, knew better. He smuggled the game ball into the locker room and presented it to Mulligan, who is 1-8 in Selland Arena, home of the fanatically faithful Red Wave. Irvine is 1-11 in the facility.

“All we ever heard is how Coach is 0 for life in this place,” guard Kevin Floyd said. “When we came here to practice he told us that if he got tense and started yelling, not to take it personal because this place makes him a little crazy.”

Irvine (11-12 overall, 8-6 in the Big West) trailed, 43-36, at halftime, but the Anteaters rallied and went ahead, 80-77, when Floyd scored with 1:33 left.

Herdman had a chance to put the game away, but missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with 33 seconds left and Mulligan admitted that he “felt it slipping away.”

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Said Herdman: “As soon as I stepped to the line, I thought, ‘I’ve got to get this one for Coach Mulligan. Then the ball slipped off the side of my hand and I knew I’d missed it.

“I felt much better tonight, a little weak but fine really, and I wanted to shoot every time I got the ball. I felt like I couldn’t miss.”

The Anteaters made 56% of their shots, no small feat considering that Fresno State (12-11, 7-7) is ranked 13th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 42% going.

The Bulldogs opened the game in a three-guard offense, but it was more like a one-forward offense. Fresno forward Jervis Cole scored 10 of the Bulldogs’ first 11 points.

But a quartet of Anteaters--Floyd, brothers Mike and Rob Doktorczyk and Mike Labat--combined to shut him down after that. Cole, who finished with 20 points, made just nine of 24 field goal attempts, missed eight straight shots in a 13-minute stretch of the second half as Irvine rallied.

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