UC Irvine, Long Beach State Share Night of Passion

Forty-three turnovers in 45 minutes, courtesy the fickle fingers of the Anteaters from UC Irvine and the 49ers of Long Beach State?

Just another Saturday night in the Big West.

Sixty-eight missed shots and 39% shooting from the field, set to the rhythmic slapping and pounding of leather against plexiglass and metal?

Just another Saturday night in the Big West.

Gridlock outside the Bren Center, standing room only inside, bodies on the floor, limbs over the rims, break-neck pace from tipoff to buzzer and an outcome not decided until the last five seconds of overtime?

On a Saturday night in the Big West?

“This was the best basketball game played in Southern California tonight,” Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg declared, moments after he had resumed normal breathing, moments after his 49ers had finagled a 69-65 victory.

“What would you rather see: UCLA and Oregon State or USC and Oregon--or two teams playing for something, going at it with full intensity all night?”

If you weren’t there, which is usually the case on Big West Saturday nights, you’d have to assume Greenberg was just hyperventilating during another of his Go See Cal State Long Beach used-car sales pitches, like the one he blew out to promote this one.

Sizing up this intercounty clash between Irvine (10-7, 7-3 in conference) and Long Beach (12-7, 7-3), Greenberg said he hoped the Niners and the Eaters could build something that one day equals the enthusiasm of Tobacco Road in the heart of the ACC.

University Drive is a long ways from Tobacco Road, and the only way that kind of excitement will ever come to Irvine is if the Bren Center books Smashing Pumpkins, but this evening was a genuine departure, a step in an encouraging direction. Not only was the game a sellout, the 11th in the hoops history of the Bren Center, but afterward, not one of the 5,006 in the stands and on the railing demanded their money back.

A second-half Irvine rally, from 10 points back with 11:30 to play, maintained their interest, keeping them watching until the final minute of regulation, when:

* Irvine point guard Raimonds Miglinieks, driving the key with a 63-62 lead, has a no-look pass tipped away and intercepted by Long Beach’s James Cotton, whose feed to Rasul Salahuddin results in a foul and a tying free throw with 53.9 seconds left.

* Long Beach’s Akeli Jackson bats away an inbounds pass to Michael Tate, scoops up the loose ball and outlets to Juaquin Hawkins, whose full-sprint layup rolls around the rim. Long Beach center Marcus Johnson hammers the ball through the hoop with 29.8 seconds to go, but the referee waves the basket off. Offensive interference. Game still tied, 63-all.

* Cotton breaks up a scoreless overtime stalemate, nearly four minutes into the period, with a fast-break layup off a long bounce pass from Salahuddin that sends the Long Beach bench into convulsions.

* Miglinieks steps on the sideline with 1:08 left, the 49ers tick-tack-toe the ball until Miglinieks can finally chase one down for a foul with 11.8 seconds left, Hawkins sinks a free throw, Irvine’s Brian Keefe scores an uncontested layup with 5.8 seconds left and another desperation foul sends Long Beach’s Jamie Davis to the line for the final, decisive points.

“Obviously, it wasn’t Duke-North Carolina,” Greenberg observed, “but this is the type of basketball game this conference needs. Not great basketball, but it was two teams playing for something, going all-out, with pretty good players . . . Two teams playing with a passion. It reminded me of [an NCAA] tournament game.”

And when it was over, Cotton got down on all fours, placed his forehead to the wood and began to giddily slap the palm of his left hand against the floor. Eventually, he looked up, squeezed his eyes close, shook his head from side to side and laughed.

“I was just so happy we won,” Cotton, still seeming in a state of disbelief. “UCI put us through everything tonight. I didn’t play well [11 points] but I got the basket and the rebound at the end. I was so happy. Last night, I couldn’t sleep at all, thinking about this game.

“When we’d won it, I couldn’t contain myself. It probably looked like I was going to cry.”

The victory was important for the 49ers, who are now in a virtual first-place tie with Irvine, and a milestone for Greenberg--his 100th as head coach at Long Beach.

“A hundred wins in five years,” Greenberg said. “After my first year, when I was 11-17, I wasn’t sure I’d be around for a 12th. I’m just thankful the people at Long Beach decided to keep around.”

He lasted long enough to see the Bren Center filled to capacity for a game in early February between Long Beach and Irvine. Aesthetically, it wasn’t much of a sight--”When Rod [Baker] and I look at the tape, I’m sure we’re both going to say, “Ooh, that’s as ugly as it gets,’ ” Greenberg said--but in the Big West, it was a piece of sheer and utter beauty.