COLLEGE ROUNDUP : UCI Turns Up Heat in Time, to Win, 88-79

UC Irvine, which in the first half suffered from what Coach Rod Baker calls “the cool factor,” rallied to beat Cairns-Australia, 88-79, in an exhibition game in front of 1,419 Tuesday night at the Bren Center.

Cairns, which has beaten USC and Loyola Marymount and is 5-4 in exhibitions, shot 48% from the floor in the first half to take a 41-32 lead at the intermission.

“Our cool factor was up way too high in the first half,” Baker said. “We were beating them on cool and they were beating us on the scoreboard. We weren’t running, rebounding or defending.”

The Anteaters turned up the heat in the second half, however. Point guard Raimonds Miglinieks had eight second-half assists. Senior Chris Brown, who was suspended from Irvine’s first exhibition because he missed a team study session, made two of three three-pointers and scored 12 second-half points as the Anteaters pulled away from the Australian club team.

Freshman Brian Keefe continued to make his bid for regular role, hitting all three of three-point attempts and grabbing five rebounds in just 13 minutes. He hit consecutive three-pointers to lift the Anteaters into a tie, 48-48, with 12:45 to play. Then Miglinieks, who was four of five from three-point range and scored 16 points, hit a three-pointer to put Irvine ahead for good.