Anteaters Miss Chance to Upset Ohio : Basketball: After trailing by two with six seconds left, 14th-ranked Bobcats tie it and win in overtime, 81-72.

There are a couple of ways to look at UC Irvine’s 81-72 overtime loss to 14th-ranked Ohio University in the first round of the Hawkeye Invitational Friday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

There’s Irvine forward Mark Odsather’s spin: “That’s a team that just lost to third-ranked Kentucky, at Kentucky, by four points, and we took them into overtime. This proves we can play with the best teams in the country.”

And then there’s Coach Rod Baker’s view: “There’s no column for moral victories. There are wins and losses and in some sports ties, but there’s no moral victories. When a coach gets fired, they don’t talk about how many moral victories he had. Sure, we had a two-point lead with six seconds to go. So what. Who cares?”

The Anteaters (0-2) led by nine at halftime, as Ohio (5-1) shot only 32% from the floor in the first half. The Bobcats did not score on 11 consecutive possessions midway through the half, but they regrouped at intermission and took a four-point lead midway through the second half, 58-54.

Irvine wouldn’t fold, however, and, after a couple of flying layins by Khalid Channell and two Chris Brown free throws, the Anteaters had a 66-62 advantage with 1 minute 5 seconds to play.

Irvine held a 66-64 lead and had two chances to add to it in the final 28.7 seconds. First point guard Raimonds Miglinieks and then freshman forward Kevin Simmons were too strong on the first free throw of one-and-one situations.

After Miglinieks missed, Ohio rebounded and guard Geno Ford went for the victory. His three-point attempt was long and Miglinieks, who led the Anteaters with 17 points and five assists, ended up with the rebound. He passed to Simmons, who passed to Brown, who hit Simmons under the basket. Simmons was fouled by Jeff Boals before he could attempt a shot.

“I just wasn’t concentrating, I guess,” Simmons said of the missed free throw. “I guess I was thinking that there was only six seconds left and we were up.”

After Simmons’ errant free throw, the Bobcats worked the ball under to Gary Trent, who scored on a short bank shot at the buzzer.

“Big-time players make big-time plays,” Baker said.

With the Anteaters emotionally deflated, the Bobcats dominated the overtime, scoring 11 points before Brown hit a three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining.

“We played great,” Brown said, “but after they tied it up and sent it to overtime, it seemed like everyone thought we had lost. We were completely out of sync in overtime, we did none of the things that we had done during regulation.”

Brown, who led the Anteaters in scoring (17.4 points per game) and the nation in three-point shooting (4.7 per game) last season, had his second consecutive off night. Brown, who was one of eight from the floor against Oklahoma in Irvine’s opener, made only three of 10 three-point attempts and scored 13 points.

A year ago, the only way Irvine could stay close to a top-ranked team would be on one of those nights when Brown made nine or 10 threes. But this is a different Anteater squad with more offensive weapons.

“We were in the game and our two starting perimeter shooters (Brown and Odsather) were a combined five for 20,” Baker said. “Yeah, we played pretty well . . . for 39 minutes and 59 seconds.”

Trent, who has already earned the nickname “Shaq of the MAC,” had only four points at halftime. But he scored 10 in overtime and finished by matching his season averages with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Guards Ford and Gus Johnson combined for 27 points and 10 assists and 7-foot-2 center Jason Terry had 11 points for the Bobcats.

“I feel like we dodged a really huge bullet,” Ohio Coach Larry Hunter said. “At least we did what we wanted to in the last six seconds of regulation. We got the ball in Gary’s hands. Then we gave a sigh of relief and executed in OT.”

The Anteaters cursed their luck and then executed themselves in overtime.

“It’s disappointing,” Odsather said. “We played 40 minutes of really great basketball. Unfortunately, this game was 45 minutes long.”