Miglinieks Leads Irvine in Opener

UC Irvine staggered and stumbled in the first half, but regained its poise after intermission and put together a rousing finish for an 87-70 victory over Siena in the first round of the Joe Lapchick Memorial Tournament in front of 6,008 at St. John’s Alumni Hall.

Senior point guard Raimonds Miglinieks, recognizing that his teammates were a little out of sync, abandoned his usual pass-first-shoot-second philosophy early in the game and scored 20 first-half points as Irvine took a 40-33 halftime lead. Miglinieks, who was third in the nation in assists last season, finished with a career-high 26 points and seven assists.

“Some point guards just score to score, but a really good point guard has the ability to assess a game and do what’s necessary to win,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “He saw what needed to be done and just went ahead and did it.”

Siena guard Andy Theis made three three-point shots and scored 12 points during a two-minute stretch midway through the first half as the Saints took a 23-19 lead. But Miglinieks’ shooting and forward Michael Tate’s 14 rebounds brought the Anteaters back.

“It was the first game of the season and it is always a little hard to get started,” Miglinieks said. “I felt like I had to pick up the scoring.”

The Anteaters meet the host Red Storm--an 88-72 winner over Niagara in Friday’s second game--today at 1 p.m. in the final.

St. John’s is 40-0 at the Lapchick and has won 20 consecutive tournament titles.

“There always is a first time,” Miglinieks said, smiling.