UC Irvine Improves, Defeats Bucknell

UC Irvine turned in a solid all-around game for the first time this season and beat Bucknell, 85-79, in the first round of the Freedom Bowl tournament Friday night at UC Irvine.

Pressed into a loss in their opener at the University of San Francisco last Saturday and plagued by dismal shooting in a loss to Stanford Monday, the Anteaters did things right against Bucknell.

They shot well, especially down the stretch as they pulled away in the final minutes.

Irvine took the lead for good, 77-76, on a jump shot in the lane by Justin Anderson, who had 19 points. Jeff Herdman also had 19 and Ricky Butler had 18, despite fouling out with more than six minutes left.

Irvine will face Tennessee Chattanooga, an 86-81 winner over Navy, for the championship at 8 tonight. Bucknell plays Navy in the consolation game at 6.

Anderson and Herdman each made key free throws in the final minute to seal the victory. Herdman also came up with what turned out to be the biggest basket of the game.

After missing a jumper on an out-of-bounds play, Herdman wrestled the rebound away from Bucknell’s Mike Joseph and scored on a short bank shot.

That gave Irvine a relatively safe 81-76 lead.

Joseph had 22 points to lead Bucknell.

Bucknell opened a 30-15 lead midway through the first half.

Irvine was listless at times in the first half, throwing the ball away repeatedly and missing easy shots.

But Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan turned to two freshmen, neither of whom figured prominently in the Anteaters’ plans when the season began, for a spark. Ben Rishwain, a walk-on guard, got Irvine moving with a layup that cut Bucknell’s lead to 30-19.

Jeff Von Lutzow, a forward Mulligan had hoped to red-shirt, added a steal and a driving dunk, cutting the Bison lead to 35-30.

Irvine took the lead, 40-38, on a pair of free throws by Herdman with four seconds left.