Irvine Has a Struggle, but Wins

UC Irvine officials, seeing a week-long gap in their Big West Conference schedule, signed up Southern Utah to fill the void.

“This is not the time of year you want to go a week without playing,” Coach Rod Baker said.

Maybe, but the Anteaters went about 20 minutes without playing Tuesday night before waking from their sleepwalk and scratching out an 85-75 nonconference victory.

Irvine’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Kevin Simmons, missed his first 12 shots before finally scoring on a layup 6 1/2 minutes into the second half. Simmons finished one for 14 from the field with 12 points.

The Anteaters (11-7) shot only 35% from the floor during a lackluster first half.

Irvine’s last three games have all been battles for first place in the Big West. This game offered no such motivation and the Anteaters sank to the occasion. Thirteen minutes into the first half, the Thunderbirds (11-10) led by three.

Irvine took a five-point halftime lead, extended it to 13 midway through the second half and let it slip to three with 3:52 remaining. Irvine forward Shaun Battle stepped up to score nine points in the final 3 1/2 minutes to ensure the victory.