Pacific Wastes No Time Putting Away UC Irvine, 108-87

Grant UC Irvine this. The Anteaters don’t lose the close ones.

The latest in their litany of losses is a 108-87 defeat at the hands of Pacific in front of 1,907 in the Bren Center Monday night.

Pacific had this one put away by halftime, taking a 66-43 lead after shooting 73% against Irvine’s porous press and seemingly halfhearted defense.

“It was a rout, an out-and-out rout,” UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. “If I could have hidden, I would have hidden.”

The loss to Pacific, a team that lost 22 games in a row three years ago and is only 6-7 now, is only the latest in a list of blowouts.

Irvine is 6-9 overall and 1-2 in the Big West Conference, and the defeats have been nightmares. The Anteaters’ average margin in their losses is 20.3 points.

“We were just terrible,” Mulligan said. “It was a combination of poor coaching, poor playing and a benevolent (Pacific Coach) Bob Thomason.

“Bob Thomason was really nice to us. It could have been a 40-point game.”

It didn’t start that way. Irvine led by seven after five minutes, but Glenn Lavender’s dunks and Anthony Woods’ passes and outside shooting brought Pacific back.

The score was tied, 19-19.

Then came the first Pacific blitz. First, an 11-0 run, its fierceness stoked by turnover after turnover.

It wasn’t long before Irvine trailed, 56-32. In the final nine minutes of the first half, Pacific made 13 of 16 shots, including three consecutive three-pointers.

Jeff Herdman and Cornelius Banks led Irvine with 13 each.

“It was just a disaster,” Mulligan said. “The only thing we can do is come back and really play Wednesday (against Fresno State).”