Irvine Comes Alive in Time to Shock Fullerton, 94-76

Sure, UC Irvine has been improving lately. Things couldn’t stay as bad as they had been.

But who could have predicted a 94-76 Anteater victory over Cal State Fullerton Saturday?

Certainly not Irvine assistant coaches Ernie Carr and Tim Murphy, filling in for Bill Mulligan, who was attending his mother’s funeral in Chicago.

And who could have guessed that freshman Dylan Rigdon would come up with a 26-point, nine-for-nine shooting performance? Even Rigdon seemed surprised by his accuracy.

Strange but true as Irvine pounded Fullerton before 2,412 at the Bren Center.

The Anteaters, who had lost 15 of 16 games and had fallen to the Titans by 27 points last month, found themselves in an unfamiliar position.

Irvine jumped to a 10-0 lead before the game was 3:22 old. Rigdon had swished two three-point baskets and the rout was on.

By halftime, Irvine’s lead was 43-28. It increased to 20 points, after Jeff Herdman’s three-point shot with 12:10 left in the game and reached at 24.

In nine shots, including seven three-point baskets, Rigdon never hit the rim once. Everything he shot--even a first-half moon ball over the outstretched hands of Cedric Ceballos, Fullerton’s 6-foot-7 forward--hit nothing but net.

“I never shot it like that before,” Rigdon said. “Never with a crowd and in a game like this.”

Rigdon’s shooting was infectious.

Herdman had 20 points off the bench, making five of eight from the field.

Ricky Butler, Irvine center, had 10 points and hit four of his five shots.

Craig Marshall also had 10 points for Irvine (4-21 and 2-14 in the Big West Conference).

The Anteaters made 14 of 22 (63.6%) three-point attempts.

Ceballos led Fullerton (12-14, 6-11) with 32 points and 18 rebounds.

It was the Titans sixth consecutive loss and their 11th road loss in 14 games.

“We were never ready to play,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said. “I was even disappointed with how we took the court for warmups. We were flat and they had an outstanding shooting percentage (50.8%) and together that made for a long day.”

Aside from Ceballos and brief flashes from Agee Ward, who had 11 points, the Titans offered little resistance.

“We played catch up all night and lost all execution on offense,” Sneed said.

Irvine has never looked better, not in its 98-97 upset over UC Santa Barbara and certainly not during its recent 15-game losing streak.

“We out-worked them,” said Carr, who was the interim head coach at Saddleback College last season and spent 12 seasons at Dominguez High in Compton before coming to Irvine. “We didn’t have any lulls in our energy levels.”