Irvine Comeback Falls Short Against San Diego State

Both teams nearly ran out of players, and UC Irvine certainly ran out of time in a 69-66 loss to San Diego State on Saturday night at Irvine.

Still, even though Jason Flowers missed a three-point shot with four seconds left, Irvine Coach Pat Douglass was almost smiling afterward.

“We didn’t get beat by 25 points,” Douglass said. “They had a couple lucky shots that went in. I can’t be disconsolate with the effort.”

Not in the final five minutes, anyway. The Anteaters (1-5) came from 12 points down and had clear shots at winning baskets in the final minute.

Flowers, a walk-on, had the last one. He played only one minute and was only in the game because four Irvine players fouled out, but picked up a deflected pass in the corner and threw up a line-drive three-pointer that hit the front of the rim. Flowers grabbed the long rebound and attempted to find an open Irvine player, but threw the ball away.

With that, San Diego State (3-4) survived a furious rally. The Aztecs led, 59-47, with 4 minutes 56 seconds left, but the Anteaters’ Junior Bond made consecutive three-pointers to start an 11-1 run.

Irvine’s Adam Stetson made a three-pointer and was fouled with 33 seconds left. His free throw cut the Aztec lead to 66-64.

It was 67-66 after Malachi Edmond’s layup with 21 seconds left. San Diego State’s David Kaplansky, a walk-on, made two free throws with 13 seconds left.

The Aztecs, who have nine players on their roster, were without Stephen Clark--who was studying for finals--and lost Josko Visnjik for part of the game with a bruised shoulder.

Irvine committed 32 fouls and San Diego State shot 48 free throws, making 29.