UC Irvine Is Beaten as Last-Second Shot Fails

It was an aggressive, brash UC Irvine team that took the Bren Center court Saturday for the Disneyland Freedom Bowl tournament championship game against Tennessee Chattanooga.

The Anteaters, brimming with confidence after their first victory on Friday, took an early first-half lead.

But things changed dramatically late in the half. Point guard Rod Palmer sprained his right knee taking a charge on the Moccasins’ Derrick Kirce with 4:43 left and sat out the rest of the game.

Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan replaced him with Dylan Rigdon, a freshman from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.

The Anteaters were never the same after that as they lost, 74-72.

Irvine had a chance to win the game with 10 seconds left after Moccasin guard Eric Spivey missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Anteaters rushed the ball upcourt.

They worked the ball to Justin Anderson, who drove toward the basket. He took an off-balance 15-footer as he crashed into a couple of Tennessee Chattanooga defenders.

The shot was off the mark and Anderson was called for charging, anyway, and Tennessee Chattanooga held on for the victory.

The loss drops Irvine to 1-3. Tennessee Chattanooga is 4-0.

Kirce led the Moccasins with 23 points. Ricky Butler had 23 for Irvine.

In the consolation game, Bucknell defeated Navy, 67-66, on forward Greg Leggett’s 10-foot jumper at the buzzer.

Irvine trailed, 35-32, at halftime despite shooting 38% from the field.

Until Palmer was injured, though, the Anteaters had played well.

They slowed the Moccasins’ leading scorer, Terry Brent, who was averaging 21.5 points coming into the game.

He had just six at halftime, and was shut out in the final nine minutes of the half.

Irvine led by as many as five points, the last time after Butler’s follow shot made it 18-13.

Tennessee Chattanooga rallied to take the lead, increasing its advantage to 35-29.

But Anderson’s three-point basket just before halftime cut it to 35-32. The Moccasins had one last chance to score, but reserve guard Tyrone Enoch, apparently unaware time was running out, dribbled out the final seconds without trying to shoot.