Anteaters Give Aggies a Hard Time : Basketball: Brown scores 39 points in UC Irvine’s 95-87 upset of No. 25 New Mexico State.

Where is downtown Irvine?

For Chris (Downtown) Brown, it’s anywhere beyond the 18-foot nine-inch arc that signifies the zone for a three-point goal. And Saturday night in the Bren Center, it ranged to about two yards beyond as Brown scored 39 points--including nine three-pointers--and UC Irvine upset New Mexico State, 95-87, in front of 2,112 in the Bren Center.

Giving new meaning to the phrase “lost weekend,” the Aggies, who began the week ranked No. 25 in the nation, suffered their second setback in as many days. And Irvine, the Big West’s last-place team, came away with only its second victory in the last 12 games.

Irvine (7-17 and 4-12 in conference) led by as many as 14 in the second half, but the Aggies (19-5, 11-4) pulled to three (84-81) with 3:22 remaining and then two (89-87) with 1:08 left. Brown drilled a three-pointer, made a rare layup and two free throws in the final 2 1/2 minutes as the Anteaters pulled off the upset.

“It didn’t matter if we were in a zone or playing man-to-man,” New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy said. “And he was covered on most of those shots.”

Brown got the opening tip and drilled a three-pointer with only six seconds elapsed off the clock. It was the beginning of another long night for the Aggies, who lost by one point Thursday night at Long Beach State.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get mad at Chris for taking a shot,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “Every time he puts it up, it has a chance to go in. And there’s no place on the floor that’s safe.”

Irvine point guard Lloyd Mumford, who had 10 assists and passed up a couple of layups to sling the ball out to Brown on the perimeter, tried to appear miffed.

“Man, he’s taking away from my game,” Mumford said, unable to keep a straight face. “I’d get all the way to the hoop and think, ‘OK, I got to give it up,’ and I’d kick it out to Chris.

“But he was making the shots. He’s a special kind of shooter.”

Brown made 12 of 25 from the floor and all six free throws and the Anteaters needed them all because the Aggies ruled the backboards, 55-37. New Mexico State had 16 offensive rebounds in the first half, the reason they trailed by only eight points (37-29) after shooting 29% from the field in the first half.

“Some people don’t get 16 offensive rebounds in a week,” Baker said, “but that’s what they do.”

What the Anteaters--who had not beaten a ranked team since they upset 16th-ranked UNLV, 99-98, on Feb. 4, 1989--usually do is blow leads. They were up by 11 in the second half against the Titans and lost by six. They had a 12-point lead over Utah State Feb. 10 and lost by two.

“I had that feeling when they started closing in,” Brown said. “I thought, ‘Damn, we can’t let this happen again.’ ”

But the Anteaters somehow avoided their patented el foldo act. New Mexico State trailed by one, 55-54, with 12:59 left to play. But Irvine, thanks to two powerful follow dunks by seldom-used reserve Shaun Battle, increased the margin to 11 on a Brown three-pointer with 9:39 left.

Then, when the Aggies closed for a final run at avoiding the upset, Brown and the Anteaters’ full-court press prevailed.

“We decided to just go for it with the press and we got them to take a few quick threes,” Baker said.

Irvine is a hard team to figure. Thursday night, Brown had nine three-pointers, the Anteaters shot 56% from the field and they lose to the Titans, a team that then had won only six times all season. Saturday night, Brown makes nine threes and the Anteaters shoot 49% from the floor and they beat a team with 19 victories.

“That’s just it,” Baker said. “I don’t know from night to night what we’ll get. Nothing surprises me anymore.”

It’s safe to guess that the Aggies, who had won 13 in a row against Irvine, were surprised.

“I think we came out figuring we would beat them,” McCarthy said.