Close Shave, but Anteaters Lose in Overtime : College basketball: Cal State Long Beach wins, 82-79, handing UC Irvine its eighth loss in a row.

Time and again, UC Irvine seemed close as a whisker to breaking through for a victory against Cal State Long Beach on Thursday night. But Irvine Coach Rod Baker will still have a beard today, after the Anteaters let a lead slip away and were taken to an extra period before losing their eighth consecutive game, 82-79 in overtime, in front of 2,245 in the Bren Center.

“We get that close,” said Khari Johnson, a sophomore forward from El Toro High School who came off the bench and played the best game of his career, scoring 21 points, many of them on powerful dunks. “We just need to finish the game.”

Baker, who says he’s never lost so many games in a row even as an assistant coach, has said he won’t shave until Irvine wins.

Long Beach (11-5, 5-2) wasn’t able to eke out a victory in regulation, with Bobby Sears missing on a driving bank shot as time ran out after Long Beach tied the score, 67-67, on two free throws by Lucious Harris with 41 second left.

That chance for victory came after Irvine’s Keith Stewart was called for an intentional foul after Harris stole the ball from him with Irvine up by two with less than a minute left. Harris headed downcourt on a breakaway, and Stewart grabbed him with both arms from behind. The intentional-foul call gave Long Beach two free throws and the ball, but the 49ers couldn’t make the possession count.

But the 49ers, who won away from Long Beach for only the second time this season, scored the first six points in overtime--four of them by Rod Hannibal, and Irvine could never crack that lead, getting no closer than three points.

“It’s bittersweet,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said. “Rod is doing a great job with these guys and they’re only going to get better. I’m very happy we won . . . but both teams played their butts off.”

Irvine (3-13, 0-7), which shot a season-high 61% from the field, had led by seven points, 67-60, with 2:01 left in regulation after a one of the three three-pointers Stewart made without a miss. Stewart came off the bench to score 19 points, making seven of eight shots. But little more than 10 seconds later, Hannibal hit a three on the other end--another of his big plays--and the lead was down to four.

Irvine, with the ball and a four-point lead with less than two minutes left, went to a semi-delay game, but instead of milking the clock, it cost Irvine the ball after Gerald McDonald was whistled for a five-second call.

Long Beach quickly cut the lead to two points, with Harris hitting an 18-foot jumper. Harris led the 49ers with 22 points. Chris Tower added 21, and Hannibal had 15.

“We wanted to take some time off the clock,” Baker said. “We were struggling a little bit and not getting great movement. We wanted to slow it down.”

Irvine still seemed in good shape with the ball and a two-point lead in the final minute, but then Stewart lost control of the ball, and Harris came up with the steal. Stewart gave chase, and ended up with an intentional foul.

“I’m not trying to make excuses. I did get bumped,” Stewart said. “The ball flew out and we were racing for the ball. He got it.”

With Harris breaking away, Stewart tried to stop him.

“You don’t have time to run around and get the ball,” he said. “You don’t want to hurt him, so you just grab hold of him.”

The loss overshadowed some of Johnson’s pleasure with his own performance--even the fact that the 25% free-throw shooter made seven of nine after a week of adjustments.

“I’m pleased at having a great offensive game, but it still doesn’t add up to a win,” Johnson said.

Baker and the players echoed that sentiment: A loss is a loss.

Notes

UC Irvine’s Elzie Love sat out with a sore back suffered in the Cal State Fullerton game last Saturday. Next: UC Santa Barbara at 7:30 in the Bren Center Saturday.