UC Irvine’s Rally Crashes Against Pacific : College basketball: Anteaters have chance to tie in last seconds, but Boyer’s shot goes awry.

UC Irvine, the team that can’t deal with success, really ran its fans through the ringer Thursday night.

The Anteaters led the University of the Pacific by 16 early in the first half, were outscored, 23-0, midway through the game to fall 15 behind, fought back from a 10-point deficit with 3 minutes 42 seconds to go and had the ball in the hands of their center, underneath the basket, trailing by two with 2.3 seconds remaining.

Overtime? Not a chance.

DeForrest Boyer ended up taking a falling-down, six-foot, baseball throw at the basket as time ran out and the Tigers held on for a 73-71 Big West victory in front 1,731 in the Bren Center. As a result, Pacific improved to 10-7 and 4-2 in conference and Irvine fell to 5-8, 2-3.

“I believe I was fouled,” Boyer said, “but they didn’t blow the whistle so it’s over now.”

Pacific guard Charles Terrell also believes Boyer was fouled.

“I kind of got him on the arm,” he said, smiling, “but, hey, you have to play aggressive and the refs aren’t going to see everything.”

Point guard Lloyd Mumford, whose frenetic play in the closing seconds gave the Anteaters the chance to send the game into overtime, believes basic physical science proves Boyer was fouled. He figures it had to take an irresistible force to budge this immovable object.

“A 280-pound guy doesn’t just turn around and fall down like that,” Mumford said. “You just don’t see that happen. But it was like the refs were waiting for the other one to blow the whistle. They all just looked at each other and then ran off the court.”

Irvine Coach Rod Baker maintains that all losses hurt the same. He had a look on his face after this one, however, that would seem to belie that theory.

“We should be out there playing right now,” he said, softly. “I’m not sure if he was pulled or pushed or what, but once he found himself falling down, he had to put it up.”

The game was a microcosm of the Irvine-Pacific series, during which the Tigers won the first six, Irvine won the next 20 and Pacific has won the last 10.

Pacific missed 16 of its first 21 shots as the Anteaters sprinted out to a 28-12 advantage. And even though the Tigers scored four points in the final 14 seconds of the first half, Irvine led at the intermission, 36-28.

But the worm turned in the second half and, for the first 5:45 of the half, it was the Anteaters who couldn’t get the ball through the hoop. By the time they had “stopped the bleeding,” as Baker put it, Pacific was leading, 47-36.

Thanks to Mumford, who injured his left thumb in the first minute of the game, the Anteaters were not rolling over, however. Pacific led, 69-62, with 3:17 remaining when Mumford drove for a layup, was fouled and made the free throw. A minute later, he dribbled into the key, spun 360-degrees and banked in a six-foot jumper. Thirty seconds later, he swished home a 15-foot jumper. And, with 34 seconds left, he stole the ball from Terrell on a trap and made a layup to cut the Pacific lead to one, 72-71.

Ben Rishwain made one of two free throws with 29 seconds left and then Mumford got the ball into Boyer, who tried to dribble and lost the ball. Mumford quickly fouled Rishwain, who missed the front end of a one-and-one situation. Irvine rebounded and Mumford drove down the key and pulled up for a 12-footer. This one he missed.

Michael Jackson and Mumford ended up clinging to the rebound, though, and Irvine got possession on the jump-ball call, setting up the inbound play and Boyer’s ill-fated shot.

After their quick start, it was a play the Anteaters--who were outscored, 21-0, at one point in their loss to Reno Saturday night--shouldn’t have had to make. Pacific, which shot 38% from the floor in the first half, had more than a little to do with the Anteaters’ downfall. The Tigers burned the nets to the tune of 70% in the second half.

“Great teams don’t have letdowns,” Baker said. “Good teams have letdowns and then get back in the game, which we did. Bad teams have letdowns and keep going down.”

Irvine went down all right, but at least it went kicking and scratching.

And in Boyer’s case, with a crash.