Pacific Speeds by Sputtering Irvine : Basketball: Anteaters have five-minute scoring drought and score only 25 points in first half of Big West Conference loss.

UC Irvine started the season with a high-octane offense, one that scored 101 points against UCLA, even if it was in a 33-point loss.

But just about the only offense the Anteaters have right now is a sputtering one.

Saturday against Pacific, Irvine scored only 25 points in the first half, falling behind by 14 on the way to a 75-65 Big West Conference loss to Pacific in front of 2,871 in the Spanos Center.

The loss was the sixth in the past seven games for Irvine (8-15, 3-8).

Irvine had hoped for a split in its two-game trip to Fresno and Stockton, but instead was swept, keeping the Anteaters tied with San Jose State for last in the Big West.

Pacific (10-10, 6-5) is tied for third with Utah State, trailing only top-ranked Nevada Las Vegas and New Mexico State.

“Except for Vegas and New Mexico State, I don’t feel all those other teams are that good, I really don’t,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. “Here’s Pacific in third place. What am I gonna say about us if they’re not that good?”

Irvine set out this season with a goal of scoring 95 points per game. That changed after the Anteaters dropped their disastrous, layup-creating press. Without the press, the tempo would be slower, naturally. But 25 points in a half? Irvine has reached 95 points only twice in the past 12 games.

Against Pacific, the Anteaters made one of their first nine shots, and were held scoreless for a five-minute stretch in the first half.

“We got the shots, but I think I missed about 10 of them,” said Jeff Herdman, who had 21 points. He made eight of 20 shots, including four of 12 three-pointers.

The three-way offensive tag team of Ricky Butler, Herdman and Dylan Rigdon didn’t come together Saturday.

Irvine had difficulty getting the ball to Butler, and Butler had difficulty taking it to the basket, particularly because of Anthony Woods’ strip steals. Butler scored 18 points, making eight of 16 shots. But he went to the line only four times, compared to 18 in the previous game.

Rigdon, the other long-range threat besides Herdman, scored six points, failing to reach double figures for the fourth time in five games. He made two of seven shots, all from three-point range, and added four assists.

Pacific lad by 18 points midway through the second half, but Irvine chipped away at the lead. The Anteaters had switched to man defense after halftime, and Pacific’s shooting percentage went from 52% in the first half to 31% in the second.

The Anteaters cut the lead to nine with 4:12 remaining on a three-point play by Jeff Von Lutzow off a pass Rigdon threaded through the lane.

But as Irvine set out to trim the lead further, the Anteaters’ two long-range threats, Herdman and Rigdon, were on the bench.

Mulligan said he was trying to use a stronger defensive lineup, then insert better scorers.

Without them, Irvine didn’t get as close as seven points until 2 minutes 38 seconds remained. They returned, but Pacific made 12 of 14 free throws in the final 1:39 and held on despite not scoring a field goal in the final 6:28.

Herdman said he thought he should have been in the game.

“Yeah,” he said. “But it’s coach’s decision.”

Pacific was nearly unstoppable in its first game against Irvine this season, scoring its highest total in 18 years in a 108-87 victory in the Bren Center last month while shooting 66%.

This was not the same Pacific team. Dell Demps, who had a triple-double against Irvine last time, has since been slowed by a knee injury. He scored 18 points, but eight of them came at the line. He was four of 13 from the field. Don Lyttle, the Tigers’ center, scored 12 points and had 12 rebounds, but also had foul trouble. Walsh Jordan, a freshman, added 16.

Still Pacific did what few teams do, beating Irvine in three-pointers, 8-7. But then Irvine made only 7 of 25.

“It’s really discouraging,” Butler said. “I thought we’d win both these games and be competing for third place.”

Said Herdman: “Right now, I think we’re 10th. We want to get up in the fifth of sixth spot. It’s real close, and I think we can win at least five of our next seven.”