Anteaters Lose, Fail to Clinch Berth : Basketball: Pacific wins, 79-66, but Irvine still has chance to qualify for Big West Conference tournament.

This season has more than tested UC Irvine basketball Coach Rod Baker’s patience, and the Anteaters’ listless play against Pacific Saturday night didn’t make matters any better.

UC Irvine blew an opportunity to clinch a Big West Conference tournament berth, losing to Pacific, 79-66, in front of 1,722 at the Bren Center.

The loss came only two nights after Irvine (6-20, 3-14) played one of its better games, committing a season-low nine turnovers in a 78-65 victory over San Jose State.

Baker expected--but didn’t get--a similar effort from his players Saturday night.

“We didn’t have the same intensity we had two nights ago,” said Baker, Irvine’s first-year coach. “If we were 20-6 instead of 6-20, then maybe we would have a reason to play like this. We would already be in the tournament.

“But when you’re 6-20, you just can’t let anything slide.”

And it wasn’t as if Irvine didn’t have some incentive to play harder. An Anteater victory would have clinched a spot in the eight-team conference tournament.

Despite the loss, the Anteaters still hold a 1 1/2-game lead over last-place San Jose, an 82-75 loser to Cal State Fullerton Saturday night.

Irvine has one game remaining, at New Mexico State next Saturday, while San Jose State plays host to Cal State Long Beach and UC Santa Barbara. Any combination of an Irvine victory and San Jose loss would put the Anteaters in the tournament.

“Our goal is to make the tournament, and we thought that we achieved that goal by winning Thursday,” Baker said. “We just figured we would show up a week from Saturday and play, but that’s not the way it is.”

Instead, the Anteaters showed up Saturday night and struggled.

Pacific’s 2-3 zone defense challenged Irvine to shoot outside, which it couldn’t. The Anteaters shot only 36.1% from the field in the second half, and 40% for the game.

Meanwhile, Pacific shot 61.7% from the field, and guard Dell Demps scored almost at will. Demps had 23 points on eight-of-nine shooting--including two first-half three pointers that helped the Tigers take control.

Tony Amundsen added 17 as the Tigers (11-14, 7-9) beat the Anteaters for the sixth consecutive time.

“Pacific broke us down better than anybody has this year,” Baker said. “We pride ourselves on guarding people.

Baker said the Anteaters had problems matching up defensively with Demps, a 6-foot-4 guard.

“Demps didn’t miss from anywhere,” Baker said. “If our guards rotated up on him, he took them inside. If one of our big men covered him, he took him outside.”

Demps and Irvine’s Jeff Von Lutzow turned the first half into a shooting contest. Demps scored 14 points and Von Lutzow 13.

Pacific shot 65.2% from the field in the first half and led by as 10. But Von Lutzow scored nine points in the final 4:55 of the half as Irvine stayed close.

The Anteaters stayed within striking distance, trailing, 56-47, with 10 minutes 20 seconds left in the game.

But Pacific went on a 9-0 run in the next three minutes, and Irvine never came closer than 12 the rest of the game.

Von Lutzow scored 24 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds to lead Irvine.

Gerald McDonald added 12 points and Keith Stewart and Khari Johnson added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Afterward, Baker scolded his players for what he called a lack of effort.

“There have been plenty of nights where we’ve walked in the locker room and we haven’t won,” he said. “But there haven’t been many nights where we haven’t played hard. Thank goodness that was a foreign feeling to us.”

Anteater Notes

Baker started seniors Don May, Elgin Rogers, Gerald McDonald and David Hollaway, who were playing their final home game. Each player was presented a framed action photo of himself by Irvine Athletic Director Tom Ford during pregame introductions. “They should give me a rocking chair,” May said. “It seems like I’ve been with this team longer than Kareem was with the Lakers.” Next: Irvine finishes the regular season next Saturday at New Mexico State, which beat the Anteaters, 75-71, Jan. 2 at Irvine.