Green Scores Early, Often for Irvine Record

Jerry Green didn’t need any last-minute heroics for his latest achievement. All he needed was one basket.

Green became UC Irvine’s all-time leading scorer in the opening minutes and finished with 19 points Saturday in the Anteaters’ 72-46 Big West Conference victory over Cal State Fullerton before 1,102 at Titan Gym.

Green, a senior guard and All-America candidate, has 1,797 points in his career. On his first attempt Saturday, he went to his favorite move, a fallaway jumper to his left that he sank with 16:40 to play in the first half.

“It took a lot of the pressure off me,” he said. “I’m glad it’s out of the way and now we can move on.”

With the basket, Green passed Tod Murphy. Murphy, now a UC Riverside assistant, had 1,778 and watched the guard tie the mark Thursday night.

“It’s a great honor,” Green said. “It’s a big accomplishment. Hopefully nobody will break it.”

Irvine (16-6, 9-2) led, 26-21, at halftime but eventually put away the outmanned Titans with a 46-point second half. The Anteaters remained one game ahead of Utah State, which defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Seven-foot sophomore center Adam Parada made all five of his shots in the first half and finished with 19 points on eight-for-10 shooting.

Fullerton (4-16, 1-10) lost its fourth in a row and 11th in 12 games. Without Josh Fischer, a 6-foot-9 reserve forward who has sat out the last six games with a recurring irregular heartbeat, the Titans have no depth inside other than starters Pape Sow and Babacar Camara.

Sow led Fullerton for the fifth consecutive game with 16 points.

Eric Stephens

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Long Beach St. 69, UC Riverside 66--Travis Reed scored a career-high 31 points on 12 of 18 shooting and the 49ers held off a late rally for a Big West victory at Riverside.

Long Beach State (8-14, 4-7 Big West) led most of the first half and never trailed in the second, but the Highlanders closed to within 65-63 with 17 seconds to play.

Ron Johnson sank two free throws for the 49ers, but Riverside’s Kevin Butler hit a running three-pointer with four seconds left to make it 67-66. The 49ers’ Michael Darrett hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds left, and Riverside’s Vili Morton fumbled the inbounds pass as the clock ran out on the Highlanders (6-13, 3-8).

*

Idaho 40, UC Santa Barbara 37--David Howell made nine consecutive free throws to help the Vandals win the low-scoring Big West affair at Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals (7-13, 4-7) avenged its Jan. 3 loss to Santa Barbara (12-8, 6-5).