UC Irvine Struggles Past Loyola

In the span of a few days, UC Irvine went from feeling pretty good about a 12-point loss to being somewhat lukewarm about a 10-point victory.

The Anteaters called it progress.

They labored in a 69-59 victory over Loyola Marymount on Wednesday in front of 553 at Gersten Pavilion after playing reasonably well in an 80-68 loss to Oklahoma Saturday night.

“It wasn’t a clean game and there were things we could have done better,” said power forward Marek Ondera, who spent most of the game in foul trouble. “But we got the win and that’s the main thing.”

With it, the Anteaters (2-2) reached a dubious plateau. This is the deepest into a season that Irvine has had a .500 record since 1995-96. That’s how bad things have been.

It didn’t require a complete effort Wednesday. The 10-point loss was Loyola’s best performance against a Division I team this season, and the Anteaters did just enough to put the Lions (1-3) away.

Greg Ethington, scoreless in two games in last weekend’s Oklahoma tournament, had 10 points in a 13-3 run that gave Irvine a 44-37 lead with 14 minutes left. Ethington finished with 10 points and had seven rebounds.

Ben Jones, normally a small forward, filled in nicely for Ondera with seven rebounds, six in the second half. Irvine outrebound a bigger Loyola team, 45-29.

Jones also hit a three-pointer, then drove the baseline for a reverse layup on back-to-back possessions to cap a 12-3 run that gave Irvine a comfortable 62-47 lead with 4:20 left.

Guard Jerry Green’s play was sporadic, but he scored 16 points.