Anteaters’ Win Is a Relief

There was so much for UC Irvine to feel good about Thursday night. There was so much to be concerned about.

But toss out the best-of-times, worst-of-times pondering. All that was important to the Anteaters was that they held on for a 71-67 victory over Idaho.

So they drew a few gasps from the 1,684 in the Bren Center by nearly blowing an 18-point second-half lead. At least they had an 18-point lead.

That was in sharp contrast to the way they opened Big West Conference play, back-to-back losses to Nevada and Utah State.

“We showed a lot of poise at the end,” said forward Marek Ondera, who had nine points and nine rebounds. “We could have folded, like we did on the road last week. We didn’t. We’re heading in the right direction.”

Well, the Anteaters (8-6, 1-2) did fold. They just didn’t cash it in.

Jerry Green (22 points) and Sean Jackson (16 points) played tag-team on offense. Forward Ben Jones, in his first start this season, had a solid nine-point, five-assist, four-steal game. Ondera was strong inside. Irvine shot 59%.

Onward and upward. Except . . .

“We haven’t been up by 16 points a lot,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “I think we had a little stage fright.”

Idaho, trailing by 16 with eight minutes left, went on a 20-6 run to cut the Irvine lead to 65-63.

The Vandals (7-8, 1-2) had a chance to tie the score in the final 30 seconds. Guard Lance Buoncristiani drove baseline and attempted to feed Kaniel Daniels. But Ondera deflected the ball to teammate Malachi Edmond, who was fouled.

Edmond made both free throws to clinch the victory.

Phew.

“It felt good to get that win, especially after they put the smack down on us,” Green said. “Now we got the riff-raff out of here, let’s move on to Boise State [Saturday night].”

Still . . .

“Those last five minutes seemed to take an hour,” Green said.

Jackson scored the first eight points of the half, sparking a 23-6 run. His 15-foot jumper gave Irvine a 56-38 lead with 12 minutes left. When Idaho called timeout, Green mugged to the crowd, putting his hand to his ear in an I-can’t-hear-you pose.

That’s what you do when you blow a team out, right? Only the Anteaters hadn’t.

Idaho controlled the paint all game, and had a 14-3 edge in offensive rebounds.

Forwards Clifford Gray (15 points) and Devon Ford (19 points) set up shop inside. Ford had 10 rebounds, eight offensive.

“We worked on blocking out,” Douglass said. “I can’t play for them. We spent the whole week working on blocking out. What can you do?”

Well, you could bite your nails while Ford and Gray hammered away in the final eight minutes.

“We’re taking steps,” Jackson said. “When we get a team down by 15 points, then we need to win by 20-25. That’s the next step for us.”

Jackson, a 6-foot-5 transfer from California, has made two or three strides in the last week. He was shooting 30% entering conference play, but made seven of 12 shots Thursday and scored 14 of his points in the second half. He is averaging 16 points in three conference games.

“Last season, we’d call timeout and Sean would be on the bench, wearing a three-piece suit and looking better than all the coaches,” said Ondera, Jackson’s roommate. “He’d be going, ‘This is what we should do,’ and, ‘This is what I could do.’ In a way, it’s time for him to live up to that. So far, he has shown he can back up his talk.”

And Irvine walked the walk Thursday . . . or at least walked away with a victory.