Irvine Gets Unlikely Boost

Adam Parada, UC Irvine’s 7-foot sophomore center, was fully aware of his short career against Long Beach State. The numbers were bad. Twenty-four points in four games. Break it down further and it’s 12, zero, six and six.

Parada did something about it Thursday night in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament, finishing with 17 points and 12 rebounds in the Anteaters’ hard-fought 72-65 victory over the 49ers. It wasn’t just about the numbers, either. Parada played big and played with aggression.

“He really looked like a big man in the lane as far as blocking shots and getting key rebounds,” Anteater Coach Pat Douglass said.

Parada also made a key shot down the stretch. With 43.9 seconds remaining and the Anteaters ahead, 66-63, he sank a skyhook to push the lead to five.

Parada, a former Alta Loma High standout, made seven of 14 shots and gave Irvine (21-9) a lift it didn’t have in last week’s 86-70 loss to the 49ers to end the regular season. In that game, he missed six of eight shots and scored only six points.

“Staying out of foul trouble was the key for me,” Parada said. “I wanted to do that. I needed to come out hard with full force and let the game come to me.”

Travis Reed missed two foul shots with 27.6 seconds left to effectively end the 49ers’ run. Irvine closed the game with four free throws and advanced to tonight’s semifinal against the UC Santa Barbara-Cal Poly San Luis Obispo winner.

The loss also ended Wayne Morgan’s six-year run as coach. He announced his resignation Feb. 8 and the move seemed to inspire his team. Long Beach (13-17) had won a season-high five in a row and was thought to be the most dangerous team in the tournament.

“Anytime it’s the end of the season and you lose your last game, it’s sad,” Morgan said. “So I guess we’re all sad. Obviously, that’s the last game I’ll coach at Long Beach, so it’s a little bit sadder.”

Jerry Green led Irvine with a game-high 23 points. Jordan Harris added 15 and Stanislav Zuzak added 10.

Green said their intensity was apparent throughout the game. A week after letting the 49ers shoot 54% and getting outrebounded by four, the Anteaters limited them to 41% and won the rebounding battle by three.

“This is the big time, this is when you dive for loose balls,” Green said. “The intensity has been great. I have never seen it like this all year.”

Irvine made it a point to get Parada going early. He got his first basket with a follow shot off a Green miss. From there, he operated effectively inside with either turnaround jump shots or jump hooks in the lane.

“Those shots he missed in the game before, he made today,” Reed said.

Reed, who dominated Parada in the two regular-season meetings, had 13 points and 10 rebounds while being swarmed by Anteater defenders.

“Adam did a good job denying the ball to Reed and we also had weak-side help,” Douglass said. “Any time he got the ball, we had four guys around him, so he was smothered.”

That kept Long Beach’s offensive game on the perimeter. The 49ers took 25 three-point attempts, 17 in the first half. They made nine. Tony Darden kept the 49ers close with five three-pointers and 22 points.