Irvine Falters in Second Half at Utah State

UC Irvine’s veterans know what it’s like never to have a chance. Last season, they lost at Utah State by 33 points.

This time, the Anteaters had a chance--and a one-point halftime lead--but Irvine’s struggling offense sputtered to a near-standstill in the second half, and Utah State pulled away to defeat Irvine, 81-63, in a Big West Conference game in front of 6,430.

“It’s just needing to put 40 minutes of basketball together,” Irvine senior Elgin Rogers said. “We play good in spurts and we play bad in spurts.”

Irvine (3-9, 0-3), which lost its fourth consecutive game, took a 34-33 lead at halftime after trailing by as many as seven in the first half. But the Anteaters scored only 10 points in the first 12:26 of the second half. Utah State (7-3, 2-0) went ahead by 14, 58-44, with a little more than eight minutes left.

Irvine made only 10 of 36 shots (28%) in the second half. From the line it was worse: Irvine made seven of 18 free throws in the second half, 38.9% from the line.

The Aggies, by contrast, scored 33 points from the line, missing only nine of 42 free throws.

The Anteaters hung in there in the first half on the strength of Rogers’ 12 points inside. But when Irvine tried to open up its perimeter game in the second half, Rogers’ scoring dried up. He finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Malloy Nesmith led Utah State with 18 points, 14 in the second half.