UC Irvine Sticks to Pattern of Winning

The best thing that can be said about Saturday’s Big West Conference regular-season finale, according to UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass, is the front-running Anteaters got out of town with another win.

Irvine has made a habit lately of winning ugly. On Saturday the Anteaters committed 23 turnovers, but rallied to beat Idaho, 84-80, in overtime for their seventh consecutive victory. It was UCI’s 24th victory, setting a school record for most wins in a season, eclipsing the mark of 23-7 in 1981-82.

Jerry Green scored 25 points to lead all scorers, but it was the overtime heroics of seven-foot freshman center Adam Parada that got the job done. Parada scored seven of his 13 points in overtime, including a three-point play to tie the score, 80-80, with 1 minute 30 seconds left. Then he scored the go-ahead basket on a layin a minute later.

“We let teams get ahead on us and maybe that’s better because they let up and we catch up,” Parada said. “Somehow we find ways to finish on top.”

The Anteaters (24-3, 15-1) will find out today who they face in the opening round of the conference tournament, which begins Thursday at the Anaheim Convention Center. If Long Beach loses at Pacific this afternoon, Irvine, the top seed, will face Idaho. If Long Beach wins, the Anteaters will play Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Idaho’s loss means that Cal State Fullerton, which entered the day tied for seventh place with the Vandals and Mustangs, clinched the No. 7 seed and will play Utah State in the opening round.

Douglass was proud of his players for pulling the game out but agitated by how they did it.

“You can write about 23 turnovers or you can write about how our kids fought back to win,” he said. “We were down seven points [in overtime] and went on an 11-0 run. That was remarkable.”

Irvine had several opportunities to distance itself from the Vandals. It grabbed small leads, but each time Idaho fought back to take the lead back and then some.

“It was a little tough to come up here,” said senior forward Ben Jones, who scored 20 points and had nine rebounds. “It wasn’t a pretty game, but we won.”

The Anteaters trailed, 60-54, with 6:50 to go, but rallied to take a 73-71 lead with 14 seconds left in regulation.

Then they allowed Idaho guard Bethuel Fletcher to drive the lane and put back his own missed layup for the tying basket with four seconds left.

Fletcher opened the scoring in overtime with a three-pointer. Matt Gerschefske stole a Sean Jackson pass and drove the lane and was fouled from behind by Irvine’s J.R. Christ, driving Gerschefske into the goal standard.

Christ was called for an intentional foul, Gerschefske made one of two free throws and forward Bret Wise followed with a three-pointer for an 80-73 lead.

But the Anteaters, behind several hook shots from Parada, rallied. Idaho Coach David Farrar said the Vandals were concentrating on stopping Green defensively, and that allowed Parada to be open in the post area during overtime.

“That’s one of the reasons why that team is winning,” said Farrar. “They can do it if they want to. They know how to come back. They’ve got guys who can make the shots when they have to and that is what happened there.”

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Big West Standings

Through Saturday’s games

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Conference Overall Team W L Pct. W L Pct. UC Irvine 15 1 .938 24 3 .889 Utah State 13 3 .812 24 5 .828 Long Beach State 9 6 .600 17 12 .586 UC Santa Barbara 9 7 .563 13 14 .481 Pacific 8 7 .533 16 10 .615 Boise State 8 8 .500 16 13 .552 Cal Poly SLO 3 13 .188 9 18 .333 CS Fullerton 3 13 .188 5 22 .185 Idaho 3 13 .1880 6 21 .222

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Saturday’s results

Boise State 65, UC Santa Barbara 59

Cal State Fullerton 70, UC Riverside 59

UC Irvine 84, Idaho 80 (OT)

Utah State 82, Cal Poly SLO 55