UC Irvine Lets Victory Slip Away to UCSB

Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell will wake up this morning to see that the first-place team in the conference’s Western Division has a winning record . . . finally.

UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass will rise to find that Thursday night’s game was reality, not a nightmare.

UC Santa Barbara’s 79-68 victory in the Bren Center was just another chance for the Anteaters to play the patsy. Led by guard Erick Ashe, the Gauchos (13-12, 11-4) came from 11 points down by outscoring Irvine, 30-8, in the last 11 minutes.

Thus, the Anteaters have lost 14 consecutive games, two shy of the school record. The good news is: With one game left, they can’t match it this season. The bad news is: They should have ended it.

Ashe, who scored 22 points, started the comeback with a three-pointer to cut Irvine’s lead to eight, 60-52, with 10:59 left. He scored 15 points from that point, including a three-pointer for a 69-66 lead. The Anteaters (5-20, 1-14) were done and the Gauchos were division champions.

Not bad for a team that started the season 0-8.

“We’ve been through some adversity early this year,” first-year coach Bob Williams said. “The whole season has been a comeback for us.”

Williams inherited a team that finished 7-19 a year ago and hadn’t had a winning season since 1992-93. Of course, it doesn’t take long to turn things around in this conference.

“We would have lost that game a year ago,” said senior forward B.J. Bunton, who scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half. “We would have just folded up. We have big hearts this season. We never stopped fighting.”

Irvine did, again.

The Anteaters have pulled big fades a few times this season, and this one wasn’t even a new twist. They blew an 11-point lead against Pacific in eight minutes.

This one, though, left Douglass not only frustrated, but a bit cranky. His postgame talk started with his usual X-and-O-speak: “They went to a zone...”

It picked up steam quickly.

“We stopped moving and playing,” Douglass said. “No one was looking for their shots.

“Our kids just aren’t used to winning. A game like that at home, you got to win. There is no excuse. It’s ridiculous how we collapsed down the stretch.”

Freshman guard Jerry Green was the only one who wasn’t in the rubble. He scored 27 points--more than he has had in the last three games combined--and put Irvine in control early. He scored seven consecutive points to put Irvine ahead, 25-21, with seven minutes left in the first half, a lead the Anteaters held until the last four minutes of the game.

Green, who has been fatigued the second half of conference play, scored the first two baskets of the second half, one on a baseline-to-baseline drive. He dropped a three-pointer for a 58-47 lead with 11:50 left.

“I told myself to play hard these last two games and go out with a bang,” said Green, who was 12 of 17 from the field.

His teammates went down with a whimper. Green had 13 points in the second half. The rest of the Anteaters scored 16.

“We’re up 11 and then we broke down,” Green said. “I don’t understand it.”

His coach had a clue.

“You have to hand it to Santa Barbara,” Douglass said. “They responded to the challenge. We didn’t.”