Irvine Slays 49ers’ Giant

There was more at stake for UC Irvine than just stopping a downward spiral that had seemed to make the Anteaters dizzy with defeatism.

Just ask guard Jason Flowers, who scored 25 points in the Anteaters’ 65-59 victory over Long Beach State in front of 2,186 in the Bren Center. It was a matter of honor to him.

Or forward Adam Stetson, who afterward was gasping from playing 40 minutes. He, and others, had worked to contain Andrew Betts, Long Beach’s 7-foot-1 center and one of the conference’s best players.

Or Coach Pat Douglass. If the Anteaters’ five-game losing streak was difficult on the players, it had to be intolerable to a coach who had never in his career lost five in a row. His mood was made pretty clear this week.

Which brings us back to Flowers.

“It all came from Coach,” said Flowers, who made six of 12 shots and 12 of 12 free throws. “Yesterday [in practice] it was pretty clear. We were either going to get tired of hearing Coach’s voice or we were going to fight like he was telling us to fight. Once we did that, and saw how it worked, it was only smart to keep at it.”

The Anteaters (8-15, 5-8 in conference) were smart, and improved their chances of making the Big West Conference tournament. It was Long Beach, and 49er Coach Wayne Morgan, who spent the game looking dumbfounded. They could not figure out the Irvine defense, nor could they solve the problems Flowers was creating.

Flowers, who had scored a total of 15 points in the previous four games, grabbed an airball by teammate Andrew Carlson on Irvine’s first possession and scored on a layup. He had the Anteaters’ first seven points.

Flowers’ layup gave the Anteaters a 38-36 lead with 12:24 left, and they never trailed again. His three-pointer finished a 22-8 Irvine run for a 52-41 lead with 4:48 left. He made four free throws in the last 1:29, as Irvine made 13 of 16 free throws in the last 2:30.

“This was personal, that’s the bottom line,” said Flowers, a 6-1 walk-on freshman. “We had lost five games in a row and three of those were at home. We can’t let people come in here and treat us like that.

“I prayed before the game, I prayed during the game. I grabbed that ball out of the air for that first basket and everything got started.”

Said Douglass: “That was a career game for Jason.”

It was, in many ways, for Douglass, as well. He threw a variety of defenses at Betts, while Morgan stood much of the game with hands in pockets. Morgan’s only adjustment seemed to be changing from his slacks’ pockets to his jacket pockets.

Betts got off only nine shots and made only two field goals in the second half. He finished with 16 points, below his 20.1 average and well off the 25 he scored in a 71-63 victory over Irvine last month.

The Anteaters fronted Betts with either Carlson or Matt Willard. They collapsed a zone on him in the second half. Toward the end, Douglass even had Ben Jones, a 6-7 freshman, chasing Betts around in an odd box-and-one defense.

With their leading scorer being held in check, the 49ers (10-15, 5-8) were reduced to the team that had lost to Norfolk State in December, before Betts was eligible.

Long Beach point guard Antrone Lee scored 16 points, had 10 steals--tying the conference record held by Irvine’s Ben McDonald--and had six blocked shots. He also had five turnovers. D’Cean Bryant scored 14 points, but was six of 17 from the field and one of seven on three-pointers.

“We had to avoid Betts getting shots,” Douglass said. “Going to the zone helped and Bryant not hitting his shots made it easier.”

Easier?

Said Stetson: “We had to contest everything in there. This was an important game. We were in a hole, we knew it. The feeling was, we had to come out and get some confidence going.”