Overtime Right Time for Irvine : Basketball: Anteaters blow big lead against CS Fullerton but upset Titans anyway, 88-86, on Shaun Battle’s dunk with three seconds left in extra period.

The last time Cal State Fullerton played a basketball game, Titan point guard Aaron Sunderland and forward Kim Kemp ate hamburgers and listened to it on their apartment radio.

On Saturday night, in living color, UC Irvine grilled the Titans as deftly as any local, grease-slinging fry-cook.

Irvine’s Shaun Battle dunked with three seconds remaining in overtime on to lift the Anteaters to an 88-86 overtime upset victory and ruin Fullerton’s evening in front of 2,550 in Titan Gym.

Sunderland and Kemp, along with center Sean Williams and back-up guard Sharif Metoyer, returned from a one-game suspension and provided most of the juice, and when Fullerton’s Don Leary hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 79-79 with 20 seconds remaining in regulation, the Titans had managed to erase a 15-point second-half deficit.

Lloyd Mumford’s five-foot baseline jumper at the buzzer for Irvine hit one side of the rim, glanced off of the other, bounced up, came back down headed for the hoop, bounced again . . . and missed.

Overtime.

But with the score tied at 86-86 and the seconds ticking away, Mumford passed inside to Battle, and the final two points of Battle’s career-high 15 provided Irvine (5-13, 3-8) with the basket it needed.

“We tried to head them off at the pass,” Titan Coach Brad Holland said. “Obviously, we don’t want him to have a clear shot at the basket. We didn’t rotate down properly, and they got a basket.

“A one-inch shot is a good shot.”

One inch, hundreds of inches, it didn’t seem to matter on many of Irvine’s shots. The Anteaters scorched the nets during the first half, shooting 67.9%. They finished at 54.4%.

It was Irvine’s first victory over Fullerton in four games. The Anteaters have now won two of three conference road games after losing 12. Fullerton, after a 12-game home winning streak, has now lost two in a row at home.

Jeff Von Lutzow led Irvine with 16 points--even though he didn’t score a point after halftime. Guard Keith Stewart added 15.

Sunderland scored a career-high 28 points and dished out eight assists for Fullerton (12-8, 7-5), which dropped into a fourth-place tie with Pacific in the Big West.

The victory lifted Irvine into a tie for ninth with San Jose State.

For Irvine, though, the second half was like trying to grab a handful of water. The Anteaters kept scooping up a lead, but it kept dripping away.

Irvine led by a handful early, then lost it. The Anteaters took a 10-point halftime lead and increased that to as many as 15, 71-56, with 10:02 to play.

But from there, it quickly dwindled.

Despite the fact that Fullerton’s Williams somehow managed to foul out with 16:53 left in the game--Kemp would follow him to the bench in overtime--the Titans climbed back.

They trailed when Williams left, 60-46, but, Sunderland scored five consecutive points at one juncture, hitting a 17-foot jumper with 4:05 left to bring Fullerton (12-8, 7-5) to within 75-69, sinking a free throw (75-70) and then driving around Mumford like a car around a construction cone (75-72).

Leary’s three-pointer with 20 seconds to play, over the outstretched hands of Battle, tied it at 79-79.

“We dug ourselves a big hole,” Holland said. “It seemed like UCI wanted the game more. We came out slow and unsure of ourselves, which is amazing because we’re at home. Sean Williams fouling out and Kim Kemp fouling out hurt us, but we came back from being down 15 and made it a good college game.”

Said Irvine Coach Rod Baker: “It went a lot longer than we wanted it to. We got guys out of the game, and maybe that helped us in the end, but Sunderland killed us.”

This time, the action stayed on the court--unlike the last time these two teams met, when a post-game brawl took the spotlight. Irvine back-up center Uzoma Obiekea and forward LaDay Smith were both suspended from Saturday’s game as a result.

The Anteaters took control in the last eight minutes of the first half. They were subtle about it in the beginning, but made their move when Sharif Metoyer, Fullerton’s back-up guard, made his only appearance of the half.

Trailing, 34-30, Irvine’s Todd Whitehead caught Metoyer in a half-court trap, stripped him and dunked on the other end.

Immediately thereafter, Metoyer was caught in another half-court trap and traveled.

Sunderland re-entered the game with 7:50 left in the half, but, at that point, it was like trying to kick concrete. Irvine outscored Fullerton, 25-9, in the final 8:34 of the first half and took a 53-43 lead into the locker room.

The 53 first-half points tied a season-high for Irvine, matching the Anteaters’ output against Southern California College.

Fullerton shot 51.6% from the field during the half, but it was no match for Irvine’s blistering percentage.