Anteaters Rout Nevada to End Losing Streak

Things UC Irvine fans thought they might never see:

--Center DeForrest Boyer passing up a fast-break layup to throw a pass out to Chris Brown for a three-point swish.

--Spot-and-shoot bomber Brown driving to the basket and dishing off to LaDay Smith for a layup.

--Dan Augulis, Khari Johnson and Shauhin Talesh in a game with almost four minutes left to play.

--The Anteaters win again.

The 2,213 who made it to the Bren Center Saturday night witnessed them all as Irvine routed Nevada, 99-70, to end a seven-game Big West losing streak. The Anteaters (6-14 and 3-9 in conference) jumped to a 17-2 lead and rolled to the victory, leading in every statistical category and a few that don’t show up in the box score, such as good decision-making and good fortune.

Irvine had 23 more rebounds than Nevada (9-12, 5-8) and shot 52% from the floor. Guard Lloyd Mumford, who was benched during the crucial moments of Thursday’s overtime loss to Utah State, scored only seven points, but he had four steals, 10 assists and only four turnovers.

Brown, who set a school record with 10 three-pointers against Pacific, made seven of his first nine three-point attempts and finished with 24 points. Boyer made all seven of his field-goal attempts and scored 15. And forwards Jermaine Avie and Khalid Channell combined to make 11 of 17 shots and get 13 rebounds.

Irvine also got more than its share of loose balls and favorable bounces.

Coach Rod Baker held a protracted team meeting--he did all the talking--after Friday’s practice. He said, “You make your own breaks,” and waved off all analysis of how the Anteaters awoke from a slumber during which they had lost 10 of 11.

He attributed the victory to “we just played hard tonight.”

“We did some soul-searching and all decided it was really important that we do it tonight,” he said. “Everybody needed to make some changes. We took some long hard looks at everything and everybody.”

Mumford set the tone by flying up, over and into the middle of the team’s pregame huddle, but the Anteaters have been known to play a great game before the opening tip and then fall on their faces. They engaged in a pregame shoving match with San Jose State and lost, 72-62.

“I was on the bench and just watching and we were a different team tonight,” Mumford said. “I think we just wanted this one more. We played harder than they did and we found out that when you play this hard, good things happen.”

The Anteaters, who have made a habit of going scoreless for extended periods, steadily added to their early lead and had a 21-point advantage at halftime. Nevada pulled to within 19 early in the second half, but the Wolf Pack was down and out (76-44) with 13 minutes to play.

“We came out hard, we kept our focus and we finally got a ‘W’ behind it,” Brown said. “But we could have been up by 30 with a minute to play and we still would have been playing hard.”

Baker felt a little more secure than Brown, however, and sent in the reserves with 3:36 to play and the Anteaters “clinging” to an 89-63 lead. Augulis, who hadn’t seen action since Dec. 29, got two rebounds. Johnson, who hadn’t been in a game since Dec. 2, scored on an acrobatic reverse lay-in.

Generally, a good time was had by all in blue and gold. But, if all it takes is a team meeting, a little self-analysis and lot of effort, why haven’t the Anteaters stumbled on this formula before?

“It wasn’t that we haven’t been putting out,” Boyer said, “but the results were different tonight. You just get tired of losing.”