UC Irvine Loses Face; Utah State Wins Game, 70-65 : College basketball: After spotting Aggies a large first-half lead, Anteaters rally, only to fall short.

UC Irvine lost its game face Thursday night somewhere between the national anthem and the time it stepped on the floor, Coach Rod Baker said.

It lost its leading scorer, Jeff Von Lutzow, to a toe injury for the entire second half. And it lost the game to Utah State, 70-65, in front of 2,579 in the Bren Center.

“It’s the strangest thing in the world,” Baker said about his team’s nose-dive after what he thought was a good day of preparation. “We played Houston well, we played Georgetown well, and it was as if we thought obviously we would beat Utah State. That just doesn’t happen.”

Irvine dug itself a hole against Utah State, and the Anteaters couldn’t climb out of it.

The Anteaters fell behind by 14 in the first half, and though they cut the lead to one point with 4 1/2 minutes left in the game, they never overtook the Aggies and fell to their second Big West Conference loss in two games.

After trailing at halftime, 40-31, Irvine got the lead down to two with the help of a technical foul against Jay Goodman.

Goodman, who shortly before had been victimized by Lloyd Mumford for a backcourt steal and layup, was whistled for a technical during a deadball after some particularly fierce defense by Mumford. Keith Stewart made both free throws, and then Irvine cut the lead to 49-47 when Dee Boyer dunked off a pass by Mumford on the possession awarded after the technical.

Utah State pulled back ahead by eight, but Irvine cut the lead again, this time on a three-pointer by Stewart, a basket by LaDay Smith with an assist by Mumford, and Stewart’s layin on a two-on-one break after a steal by Mumford.

Mumford stole Junsie Cotten’s pass on the next trip down the court. But on the other end, reserve Keith Walker missed a three-pointer and Irvine missed a chance to go ahead.

Irvine got another chance, but Walker missed again, hitting the side of the backboard.

Utah State (5-4, 2-0) pulled back out, going up by seven, 66-59 when Trent Rose made a three-pointer after Elzie Love, the Irvine defender, fell down with 1:47 left. Stewart and Mumford both missed threes in Irvine’s last attempts to catch up.

“We caught ‘em, but we never got by ‘em,” Baker said. “They made a play when they needed to make a play.”

Irvine (2-7, 0-2) was without Von Lutzow, in the second half. Von Lutzow, who sprained his left big toe in the loss to Houston, stayed on the bench after playing 13 minutes in the first half, missing five of six shots. He finished with two points.

He wanted to play, but Baker chose to be cautious. Von Lutzow said he will also miss Saturday’s game against Nevada.

In his absence, the Irvine offense stagnated. Stewart finished with 17, but he had no points at halftime and scored many of them late. Only Mumford kept it going at all. He finished with 20 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals and only two turnovers.

“You saw some vintage Lloyd Mumford tonight,” Baker said.

Irvine held Utah State’s leading scorers, Goodman and Rod Hay, in check, but Rose scored 18 and Nathan Wickizer scored 15 before fouling out with 2:21 left. Wickizer hurt Irvine inside, with a little help from slack inside defense and defensive rebounding.

Irvine has had a tendency to fall behind early in its games this season, and the Anteaters did it again against Utah State. Eight minutes into the game, Irvine trailed by 14 points, 21-7, after watching Utah State go on a 19-2 run.

“It was like we thought, 5-2, that’s a great game, it’s over,” Baker said. “It wasn’t.”

The Aggies built their lead on a combination of good passing and three-point shooting from various players--Cotten, Rose and Goodman each had a three during the run.

Utah State shot 57.1% in the first half to Irvine’s 41.9.

The Anteaters had shortcomings on both ends of the court, letting Aggie players get open near the basket as well as turning stagnant on offense.

Typical of their lack of awareness was Smith’s play at the end of the half. With Irvine trailing by nine, he got a defensive rebound, then held the ball as though he were running out the clock with a lead.

Mumford’s play was one of the few things that kept Irvine in striking distance. By halftime, he had 15 points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal, and only one turnover. Mumford made all but two of the nine shots he tried, and one of the misses was from three-point range.

“We had a mental lapse tonight,” Mumford said. “It was like we weren’t here as a team. We’re very unhappy right now.”

Anteater Notes

Free throws continue to hurt UC Irvine. The Anteaters made 10 of 18 (55.6%) against Utah State, and have made only 33 of 68 (48.5%) over the past three games. . . . UC Irvine’s promotion was Rod Baker mask night. . . . Lloyd Mumford is on a pace to break the UC Irvine single-season assist record of 150, set by George Turner in 1982-83. After nine games, Mumford has 56. . . . Keith Stewart has scored in double figures in 20 consecutive games.