Cagwin’s Aggressive Style Makes Impact

UC Irvine guard Gabe Cagwin is a 5-foot-10 pain. Oregon State’s Deaundra Tanner found that out in the second half of Saturday’s nonconference men’s basketball game.

Cagwin gave him a nudge, then another. Tanner talked some smack back. Gagwin gave him another nudge. Tanner talked some more. Cagwin gave an honest-to-goodness shove. Tanner got off two quick elbows.

What Tanner wasn’t doing was running the Beaver offense effectively.

“Cagwin got into Dino’s head,” Oregon State Coach Eddie Payne said. “He’s a tough little guy. He got away with about five hand checks. Guys like that play with a lot of energy because they have to in order to compete.”

Payne sounded as if he might admire Cagwin on another day, when he is being a pain to someone else’s team.

He made seven of 13 shots, mostly working off screens that enabled him to get a second alone. A second was all he needed. His quick release caught the Beavers flat-footed. By the time they realized where he was and what he intended to do, UCI had a basket.

Cagwin made five of nine three-pointers to help the Anteaters cut a 19-point deficit to four before losing, 80-70.

It’s too early to know if Saturday was a breakthrough for Cagwin, a freshman who is generously listed as 5-10 on the roster. It was only his third college game. Monday, he had 12 points but turned the ball over four times in a 68-54 loss to Portland.

Still, he looked as if he belonged.

“My dad was a baller too,” said Cagwin, who played at North Mason High in Belfair, Wash. “He would go play hoops all the time. He was in city leagues and I would go play with all the older guys. Then I would go play in the old man’s gym. That’s where I learned to come off screens.”

What made Cagwin’s performance special was what he did when not shooting Saturday. His energy was that of an Nintendo character--Sonic Cagwin?--and it ignited the Anteaters. He made a pest of himself on defense.

At one point, he collided with Jason Heide, a 6-10, 250-pound center. Cagwin bounced off him like a racquetball off a wall (“It still hurts,” he said Sunday) then began defending Heide, who looked down--way, way down--in amazement.

Cagwin had two steals, both of which he turned into layups. He also had four assists and no turnovers.

“The game situation, clock management, what’s a good shot, those are the areas that we’ve been trying to get him to do,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “We just want him to compete and not worry about results. He went out and played within the guidelines established on the team.”

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Irvine ranked 16th nationally in free-throw percentage last season. The Anteaters have a long way to go to match the 74% they shot. Through four games, they are 37 of 69 (54%).

Things weren’t improving much in practice Sunday night. The Anteaters needed to make seven consecutive free throws as a team to end practice. It took awhile.

Assistant coach Calvin Byrd, watching, shook his head and said, “We have a shoot-around tomorrow at 10 a.m. Maybe we should have brought a tent and some sleeping bags.”

It didn’t help. The Anteaters made five of 13 free throws against Portland Monday night.

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The Oregon trail was a little less rocky for the women’s team, which split two games in the Oregon State tournament. It marked the return of point guard Megan Stafford, who had served a four-game suspension for violating team rules.

The time off actually might have helped Stafford physically. She suffered a stress fracture in her left foot last season and had pain in her foot this fall. But missing two weeks of practice let it heal more.

“My little break was good for that,” Stafford said. “I haven’t felt any pain since.”

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Ryan Bailey capped his college water polo career with style. It just ended a little too soon.

Bailey scored eight goals in a 12-9 loss to USC Sunday in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s third-place game.

“I set some goals at the beginning of the year and we didn’t reach them,” Bailey said. “We didn’t win the conference or the national title. But I thought I had a pretty good year.”

This season, Bailey scored 101 goals--the fourth-best single-season total in school history. However, he was shut out in Saturday’s semifinal loss to Pepperdine.

Bailey came back strong against the top-ranked Trojans.

“I was very motivated because I wanted to come out and play and have fun and enjoy the last time this team played together,” said Bailey, who will now concentrate on playing for the U.S. national team.