COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

California 88, UC Irvine 61--Sean Lampley and Donte Smith each scored 16 points and the Golden Bears routed the Anteaters before 10,319 at Berkeley.

The Bears dominated throughout. California shot 52% and the Anteaters 38%. The Bears also had a 41-29 advantage in rebounding.

Irvine was optimistic it could play with California, having played well on the road against Oklahoma, a team that easily defeated the Bears.

“The Oklahoma game showed us we that would could compete on this level,” guard Jerry Green said. “I’m not saying we are going to win every time, but we can compete.”

Of course, beating California might not have shocked the world, but it may have rattled the neighborhood a little.

In the last decade, Irvine has been nothing more than fodder for Pacific 10 Conference teams. Since beating UCLA in 1988-89, Irvine is 2-15 against the Pac-10.

The Anteaters have lost the last eight, including the last five by an average of 31 points.

“We didn’t come from Irvine to Berkeley to do nothing,” Green said. “We wanted to gain something.”

They went home with little except an interesting story.

The renovated Haas Pavilion was evacuated 15 minutes before tip-off when fire alarms went off. As a result, the game started 27 minutes late.

A similar situation occurred before California’s previous home game, when popcorn tripped an alarm. This time, the problem was a malfunctioning alarm.

Marek Ondera made a 17-foot jump shot to give Irvine an 18-17 lead with 10 minutes left in the half.

But the Anteaters went scoreless for six minutes. They made only three of 12 shots and turned the ball over five times in their last 18 possessions.

Meanwhile, the Bears, who started two freshmen, got their act together. Joe Shipp led an 11-0 run, scoring six of his 11 first-half points and helped the Bears to a 40-30 lead at halftime.

The Anteaters started the second half as they ended the first: in disarray. They went scoreless for five minutes, missing four shots and turning the ball over nine times. The Bears, fueled by their defense, turned it into a 52-30 lead.