UCI’s Comeback Falls Short, Skid Reaches 10

UC Irvine had one last chance to avoid a winless January, and one last chance to avoid a Saturday night showdown with San Jose State for last place in the Big West Conference.

But after an Irvine comeback fell short in a 65-59 loss to Pacific in front of 2,952 Thursday night in the Spanos Center, the Anteaters are 0-9 this month, and 0-9 in conference going into the San Jose State game.

San Jose State--a team that is 1-15 overall--is the only other team still winless in Big West games, and the only team that has yet to play Irvine.

The Anteaters, who are 3-15 and have a 10-game losing streak that is the third-longest in school history, were hoping to get a victory before facing San Jose State in a battle for the bottom.

“It would have been nice to take the edge off,” said Rod Baker, who is in his first year as Irvine’s coach. “I’d loved to have seen San Jose win (the Spartans lost to Cal State Fullerton on Thursday), so they’d have gotten their win. Maybe they’d have let up.”

After losing their last two Big West games by letting leads slip away against Cal State Long Beach and UC Santa Barbara, this time Irvine was the team that came back.

The Anteaters came from 13 down to get as close as three points with 3 minutes 38 seconds remaining, but Irvine’s attempt stalled at the end, and was held off by Pacific’s free-throw shooting.

The Tigers were shooting 59.8% from the line before the game, but made 75% against Irvine, and Randy Lavender, who had gone two for 12 in a loss to Utah State last week, made 9 of 10 free throws.

“That’s something he really needed, and something to help this whole team,” said Pacific Coach Bob Thomason, whose team had lost eight of its last 10 games.

Lavender finished with 17 points, but guard Dell Demps led Pacific with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.

Irvine’s offense, improving rapidly in recent games, took a step backward Thursday, returning to its tentative ways and shooting 40.7% against Pacific’s zone.

The Anteaters trailed by 10 points after a first half that Baker graded a “D,” partly for insufficient effort, and fell behind by as many as 13 in the second half before the Anteaters began cutting into the lead behind the play of Jeff Von Lutzow, Khari Johnson and Gerald McDonald.

Their first effort got them as close as five points with 12:37 left after Von Lutzow hit a three-pointer, and Elgin Rogers bulled his way inside for a layup. Fouled on the play, Rogers, who finished with 15 points, made the free throw, making the score 46-41.

Irvine got a chance to cut it to three when David Hollaway made a steal, but the possession went for nil. Hollaway passed ahead to Elzie Love on the breakaway. Love was fouled, but the 45.5% free-throw shooter missed both shots.

That chance evaporated, and Pacific (6-10, 2-5) pulled back ahead by 12.

Irvine, having better success getting the ball inside against Pacific’s zone in the second half, found its way back into the game again.

After Johnson darted underneath the basket for a double-pump reverse layup, Pacific’s lead was only five with 4:50 left.

On the other end, McDonald slapped the ball loose from the Tigers’ Randy Lavender and broke away for a layup that cut the lead to three.

It was at three again with 3:38 left after another reverse layup by Johnson off Craig Marshall’s pass. Irvine had two possessions after that with a chance to cut it to one, but failed both times.

From the three-and-a-half minute mark on, Irvine didn’t score again until one second remained, when Von Lutzow hit a follow shot. Von Lutzow led Irvine with 17 points and nine rebounds, and made three three-pointers.

Now the San Jose State game looms larger.

“We have to go in there, like, ‘We lost, and we’re (ticked off) and now we have to play better,”’ Baker said. “Saturday’s two days away. We have to go to practice tomorrow (ticked off) that we didn’t play better.”

Notes

UC Irvine forward Elzie Love, who had played only six minutes over the past four games because of back spasms resulting from a fall during the Cal State Fullerton game, played 12 minutes Thursday, finishing with two points and four rebounds. . . . Ben Rishwain, who played for Irvine as a freshman during the 5-23 season when Irvine set a school record by losing 15 games in a row, started for Pacific and scored three points, adding a game-high five assists. . . . Next: at San Jose State at 7:45 Saturday.