A Little Experience Goes Long Way for Flowers, Edmond

They weren’t exactly tossed on the scrap heap. Still, UC Irvine guards Jason Flowers and Malachi Edmond have hardly played prominent roles this season.

Freshmen guards Jerry Green, Zamiro Bennem and Gabe Cagwin had dislodged them from the lineup and rotation. Not hard to figure out why; Flowers couldn’t generate defensive intensity and Edmond wasn’t a point producer.

Now Big West Conference play has started and with it comes some rough-and-tumble nights. Flowers and Edmond have a much-needed attribute: experience. Both came off the bench last week to give the Anteaters a lift.

Flowers had a season-high 13 points in 21 minutes to help the Anteaters defeat North Texas. Both picked up Irvine two nights later in a loss to New Mexico State. Flowers had 10 points, five assists and four steals. Edmond had six points, two assists and two steals.

“The bench is never a fun place,” Flowers said. “But if my role is to come off the bench and help us win, no problem.

“I need to come in and change the game a little bit.”

Flowers, a 6-foot-2 walk-on, started 15 games a year ago. He averaged eight points, but 15 over the final five games. Edmond played in 24 games, starting six.

But the freshmen Coach Pat Douglass landed were given the playing time to learn, and they produced. Green and Bennem, as starters, looked to be the pair for the next three years. Cagwin showed he was a streaky shooter who could carry the team with his three-pointers.

Then conference season started and the intensity picked up.

Said Douglass: “We try not to use the alibi that we’re starting three freshmen sometimes. It’s going to take some time for them to get experience in conference.”

So Douglass turned to his experienced players.

Flowers had five steals against North Texas and the Anteaters turned each one into a basket. He had four steals against New Mexico State. On two, he made nifty passes to Marek Ondera for baskets. Once he passed to Edmond, who was fouled.

“Jason still needs some improvement in his ballhandling and defense,” Douglass said. “He gave us some offense last season. Earlier this season, his shot wasn’t going down.”

So his role changed, to the point where he was playing small forward. And until last week, Flowers had only two highlights this season.

--A nine-point game against Northern Arizona, where he made a three-pointer and six free throws in the last three minutes to help the Anteaters hold on.

--A spotlight moment, when he got tangled up with Arizona freshman Richard Jefferson and put Jefferson down with a take-down move. It made ESPN that night, but Flowers ended up with a strained hamstring, forcing him to miss two games.

“It was hard [coming off the bench] in the beginning,” Flowers said. “But I think I’ve gotten used to it, whether I play two minutes or 22, I have to make something happen.”

Edmond did Saturday.

The Anteaters had gone scoreless for five minutes when he entered the game. They closed the first half with a 13-1 run. Edmond had four points, two assists and two steals in the last five minutes of the half.

He also gave Green a rest, playing point guard.

“Mal is the type of guy who speaks his mind,” Douglass said. “I think he can help us as a point guard. His defense and ballhandling sparked us the other night.”

A NEW SEASON

The freshmen did notice a difference when conference play began.

“It got a lot more physical,” Green said. “You can tell that people are playing for a spot in the [conference] tournament.”

And Green plays mostly on the perimeter. Inside . . .

“There are a lot more elbows in the back and knees in the butt,” center Mark Gottschalk said.

Gottschalk blocked three shots in the first 10 minutes against New Mexico State, the Anteaters’ best inside defensive presence this season. No coincidence, Irvine jumped to a 14-6 lead.

Gottschalk finished with four points and two rebounds.

“I got a little worn down,” Gottschalk said. “Every freshman gets worn down in these games. There is a lot more pushing than in high school.”

FAR AWAY FROM HOME

A little experience will certainly come in handy this week, when the Anteaters hit the Idaho trail.

They play at Boise State, which could be the best team in the Eastern Division. Bronco guard Roberto Bergersen is among the top five scorers in the nation.

Then it’s on to Moscow to play Idaho Saturday. No one on the Anteaters has yet to play in the Kibbie Dome, the Vandals’ football, basketball, track, tennis and anything-else-we-can-think-of facility.

“You try to schedule so your players get accustomed to playing on the road,” Douglass said. “You play games at Oregon State so your players get used to traveling and being heckled. It’s a different environment.”

TENNIS ANYONE?

Irvine has a ranked women’s tennis player for the first time in 11 years. Freshman Jonni Seymour is ranked 91st in Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. rankings heading into the season.

The last Anteater to be ranked was Courtney Weichsel in 1988.

Seymour, who played at Bakersfield Highland High School, was an easy find for Anteater Coach Mike Edles. In juniors play, she was the doubles partner of Anteater sophomore Darian Chappel. The two were the No. 1-ranked doubles team in 18-and-under division.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll pencil them in as our No. 1 doubles team,” Edles said.