Anteaters Lose Basketball Exhibition to Global Sports

What is expected from the Anteaters this season occurred Wednesday night. What Coach Rod Baker was looking for, he got.

The Global Sports All-Stars, a group of former college players, handed UC Irvine a 91-74 loss in an exhibition game at the Bren Center. It was the first of what could be many defeats this season. But from Rod Baker’s one-day-at-a-time stance, the evening wasn’t a total loss.

“This was a good exhibition for us,” Baker said. “We can talk about getting better every day in practice, but this gives us something to measure against.”

Paul Foster played a solid game with 10 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Brian Johnson had a few good moments, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds. Lamarr Parker seemed capable of minimizing the loss of point guard Raimonds Miglinieks, now in the CBA.

The problems were a bit predictable for a team that will use as many as five freshmen this season. Irvine turned the ball over 24 times, which led to easy baskets for Global Sports.

Global Sports went on an 11-2 run early in the game, getting eight points on fastbreaks to take a 20-6 lead. The Anteaters turned the ball over three times and had two shots blocked in that stretch.

Irvine, which trailed by as many as 23, was down at halftime, 48-30. The Anteaters played Global Sports even in the second half.

Global’s Brian Green, who played at Nevada, had 16 points, making seven of 10 shots. Global Sports shot 56%.