BIG WEST CONFERENCE MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Fullerton Finishes Off Irvine, Will Face Las Vegas on Friday

UC Irvine’s worst season in the school’s 25-year history came to an end Wednesday night, with the Anteaters losing to Cal State Fullerton, 82-63, in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament at Long Beach Arena.

Irvine finished 5-23.

Fullerton, which broke a seven-game losing streak, advances to a quarterfinal game against third-ranked Nevada Las Vegas on Friday night at 9.

Some reward: UNLV has eliminated Fullerton (13-15) each of the past five tournaments, and has beaten the Titans this season by 28 and 18 points.

In their two games against Irvine during the regular season, the Titans won by 27 points and lost the second by 18.

This time they jumped to a 36-16 lead in the first half, and that was about it.

For the only time this season, Fullerton started a game without Cedric Ceballos on the court. Coach John Sneed benched him for the first four minutes for being late to Tuesday’s practice.

Ceballos, who wore a black armband with the name “Hank” on it, said he was late after attending the memorial service for Hank Gathers, who was his teammate on a summer league team at Cal State Los Angeles.

Ceballos finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Mark Hill led Fullerton with 22 points.

The Anteaters suffered another poor shooting performance.

In the first half, Irvine missed all nine shots from three-point range. Fullerton made seven of 11, including all three attempts by Van Anderson, a reserve forward who averages three points a game.

Overall, Irvine made only 41% of its shots. Discounting center Ricky Butler, who scored 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting, the Anteaters made only 16 of 50 shots--32%.

From the free-throw line, they made only six of 13--46%.

And Dylan Rigdon, unflappable and unstoppable in the previous game, made only one shot, a layup, and missed all five of his shots from three-point range.

Rod Palmer, the only senior starter for the Anteaters, added 20 points, including five three-point baskets.

“Unbelievable,” Sneed said of the Titans’ performance. “It couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Just in time for a game against UNLV.

Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan, pressed for a prediction on the UNLV-Fullerton game, tried to be diplomatic.

“I don’t want to get into that,” he said. “I don’t know, you know, maybe they can hang in there and do a good job. . . . I think Vegas is a Final Four team. I’ve said that all along.”

Fresno State 71, San Jose State 56--Tod Bernard scored Fresno State’s first 13 points of the second half as the Bulldogs ended a seven-game losing streak.

Fresno State (10-18) will play top-seeded New Mexico State on Friday.

Bernard made three three-point shots during his streak as the Bulldogs increased a 30-27 halftime lead to 43-33. He finished with 21 points.

“We had one of our poorest games of the season,” said San Jose State Coach Stan Morrison.

San Jose State (8-20) shot only 35% from the field and made 23 turnovers.

The Spartans, who were led by Andre Brooks’ 19 points, got to within 44-42, but Fresno quickly pulled away on a basket by Bernard and five points in a row by Pat Riddlesprigger.

Tournament Notes

Larry Johnson of Nevada Las Vegas was chosen the Big West Conference Player of the Year by a coaches’ vote. UNLV’s Stacey Augmon, last year’s Player of the Year, didn’t make the first or second team, earning only honorable mention. . . . There is hope for the future for Irvine, which placed two players on the all-freshman team: Dylan Rigdon and Jeff Von Lutzow. Other members: Lucious Harris of Cal State Long Beach, Idris Jones of UC Santa Barbara and Kevin Logan of San Jose State.