Irvine Quietly Closes In on Big West Title

No one wanted to talk about it.

The entire UC Irvine men’s basketball team barely breathed a whisper about the consequences of the Anteaters’ 83-78 victory over Long Beach State Thursday night in front of a record crowd of 5,300 at the Bren Center.

But it was hard to ignore the obvious. The victory moved the Anteaters (21-3, 13-1 in the Big West) a step closer to their first conference title in school history and left them a game and a half up on second-place Utah State heading into the final 10 days of the regular season.

With only a nonconference game at home Saturday against UC Riverside and games against the two worst teams in the conference--Cal State Fullerton at home Thursday and at Idaho March 3--remaining on their schedule, the Anteaters would appear to be a shoo-in to obtain what no one thought possible when the season began.

But none of the players wanted to talk about that after they had defeated Long Beach for the second time this season, bringing their current winning streak to four games.

“I know it sounds silly,” said senior guard Sean Jackson, who scored scored 12 points and had two assists. “But we have always taken it game by game since November.

“People talk more to us about it than we talk to them. It doesn’t mean we are not trying to win it, but our goal hasn’t changed, and that is to play the games as they come.”

Coach Pat Douglass, a man who measures his words carefully, was a bit more willing to go out on a limb, at least for him.

“We have an opportunity to make history here,” he said. “Irvine has never won a Division I [conference] championship and that’s what we’re excited about.”

The overflow crowd certainly was excited Thursday. So, apparently, were the dozens who were turned away at the gates after fire department officials limited the standing-room spectators to about 300. Those who couldn’t get in watched the game on a closed-circuit broadcast shown on a big screen television outside the arena.

Inside, guard Jerry Green led Irvine with 25 points, and forward Ben Jones scored 23 and matched Green with seven rebounds.

Long Beach State (15-12, 8-6), which fell into fourth place in the conference, had four players score in double figures, including a 24-point performance by Ramel Lloyd. The 49ers hung around all night, but each time they rallied to grab a small lead, Irvine responded.

Irvine held a 45-36 lead with two minutes left in the first half, but Long Beach rallied with a 13-3 run and took a 49-47 lead with 17 minutes 16 seconds left in the game following a pair of free throws from Lemi Williams, who scored 17.

Jones hit a three-pointer and 49er guard Ron Johnson responded with a driving layup for two of his 10 points and a 51-50 lead.

But Jones came back with two free throws to put the Anteaters ahead for good. That started a 17-3 run that put Irvine in front, 67-54, following a turnaround jumper by Green with 9:10 to play.

The run was spurred partly by Irvine’s zone defense, which kept the 49ers out of the key. Douglass said that going to the zone was necessary because he had post players in foul trouble.

Long Beach State Coach Wayne Morgan said the defensive change hurt his team.

“That was a big factor in deciding the game,” Morgan said. “We were unable to answer the call.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Big West Standings

Through Thursday’s games

*--*

Conference Overall Team W L Pct. W L Pct. UC Irvine 13 1 .929 21 3 .875 Utah State 11 2 .846 22 4 .846 UC Santa Barbara 8 5 .615 12 12 .500 Long Beach State 8 6 .571 15 12 .556 Pacific 7 6 .538 15 9 .625 Boise State 5 8 .385 13 13 .500 Cal Poly SLO 3 10 .231 9 15 .375 CS Fullerton 3 11 .214 4 20 .167 Idaho 2 11 .154 5 19 .208

*--*

Thursday’s results

UC Irvine 83, Long Beach State 78

Cal State Fullerton 63, Idaho 60

Pacific 63, Boise State 53

UC Santa Barbara 84, Cal Poly SLO 77