Baker Finally Reaches Milestone : Basketball: UC Irvine coach gets 100th victory when Anteaters edge St. Mary’s, 69-66, at Bren Center.

Rod Baker would be the first to tell you it was too long coming and it was no work of art, but his 100th victory as a head coach will provide UC Irvine with a merry Christmas break and its first winning record going into January in seven years.

The Anteaters reached the 4-3 mark Friday night with a down-and-dirty 69-66 nonconference victory over St. Mary’s in front of 1,846 at Bren Center.

“It was not very nice how we did it,” point guard Raimonds Miglinieks mused, “but we played hard and, you know how they say, a ‘W’ is a ‘W.’ It will help make Christmas good.”

Clearly, it was more a battle of wills than athleticism, a game heavily littered with missed layups, free throws and opportunities, not to mention all the bodies strewn on the floor.

But it was the kind of game Anteater fans are used to seeing slip away.

“Last year, we would have given up,” forward Mark Odsather said, “but this is a different team. We have confidence that we’re going to find a way to win, so we’re finding ways to get it done.”

Irvine trailed by six after a little more than a minute and led by as much as five early in the second half, but a basket or two was all that separated the teams for the rest of the night.

St. Mary’s (4-4) had a 63-60 lead with two minutes remaining. Miglinieks made one of two free throws and then Gael forward Brent Farris was called for traveling on a fast break. Freshman forward Kevin Simmons, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, was fouled while attempting a dunk and made both free throws to tie the score.

With slightly more than a minute to play, Farris was called for traveling again, this time working for a shot underneath. Miglinieks then beat a double-team and passed to Michael Tate at the top of the key. Tate fed Khalid Channell, who slammed it home, was fouled and sank the free throw to put the Anteaters ahead, 66-63.

Zuri Williams made one of two free throws and then St. Mary’s Chris Johnson hit a three-pointer with 15.8 seconds left. But Chris Brown made two free throws and Johnson’s desperation three-point fling at the buzzer hit halfway up the backboard and bounced away.

“St. Mary’s did a good job defensively and we had to make some adjustments at halftime,” Baker said. “We rebounded well and defended pretty well. They only scored six points in the last 4 1/2 minutes.”

Irvine’s perimeter shooters continue to struggle. Odsather, Brown and freshman Brian Keefe were a combined six of 20 from the field. And the Anteaters’ poor free-throw shooting--they were 10 of 22 from the line before making six of their last seven in the game’s final 1:33--almost cost them the game.

But the addition of Tate and Simmons has given Irvine a new dimension and a new level of confidence. Tate had 11 points in the first half and finished with a team-high 15 points and 13 rebounds. Last year, the Anteaters usually only won when Brown made eight or 10 three-pointers.

“In the first half, we didn’t get the (outside) shots,” Baker said. “In the second half, we got them but didn’t make them. If we could just make a couple of outside shots, we would make life a lot easier for everyone.”

Tate, for one, doesn’t especially mind.

“It just shows we can play bad on offense and still win,” he said. “We still haven’t got it all together yet.”