Irvine Has a Smooth Time at Northridge, 74-57

UC Irvine made sure that the stumble it took Thursday against Pacific didn’t turn into a tumbling act against Cal State Northridge on Saturday.

Instead, the Anteaters defeated the Matadors, 74-57, handing the hosts their second consecutive lopsided defeat in Big West Conference play. The Matadors (8-11, 2-6 Big West) have lost five of eight.

Aaron Fitzgerald, Ross Schraeder and Shamar Armstrong led Irvine (13-9, 9-1) with 13 points each. But this was a team effort. Every Anteater who played scored at least two points. Irvine shot 48.9% from the field and out-rebounded Northridge, 42-26.

Schraeder reached 1,000 points at Irvine on his second three-point basket of the game, with 9 minutes 9 seconds to play in the first half, and has 1,007 points in 107 games.

Irvine led at the half, 41-27, and led by as many as 22 points in the second half.

“You don’t go into games expecting to lose like we did at Pacific,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “I thought our kids responded well against a team that has a lot of different defenses.”

Northridge, which lost to Long Beach State by 21 points Thursday, did not respond as well. The Matadors had four players in double figures but Jonathan Heard was the leader with 11 points. Northridge made only 18 of 55 (32.7%) shots, their second-lowest field-goal total this season

“We’re not a very competitive team right now, which is a strange place for me to be in,” Coach Bobby Braswell said. “Right now, we just don’t have a fighting spirit. We get down, we get in a hole, and we’re lacking guys who can really pull guys up at this point.

“I’m hoping there’s still enough time for that to develop.”

After the game, the Matadors held a players-only meeting.

“It was real civilized. No one’s pointing fingers,” said Mike Efevberha, who scored 10 points. “We’re a family, but we needed to let each other know what we think our weaknesses are, and what we have to work on.”

-- Mike Terry

UC Riverside 78, Cal State Fullerton 73 -- Klaus Schille scored 17 of his career-high 23 points in the second half and in overtime to lead the Highlanders at Fullerton.

Dedrick Bates also scored a career-best 23 points for the Highlanders (3-16, 3-5 Big West), who ended a five-game losing streak.

Bobby Brown scored 21 points for the Titans (10-9, 3-6), who have lost five of seven. Jamaal Brown, playing with a broken nose, had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Fullerton.

Pacific 87, Long Beach State 78 -- Anthony Esparza had career highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds and the host Tigers (16-6, 6-2) won their fifth consecutive Big West game.

Christian Maraker had 17 points and 12 rebounds to help the two-time defending Big West champions sweep the season series with the 49ers (10-10, 5-4) for the third consecutive season.

Shawn Hawkins led Long Beach State with 22 points. His fast-break layup tied the score, 48-48, four minutes into the second half but the Tigers went on a 27-11 run over the next 10 minutes to take control.

Loyola Marymount 74, San Francisco 63 -- Matthew Knight had 22 points and six rebounds and the Lions earned their third victory in 11 road games.

Brandon Worthy had 18 points and five assists, and Wes Wardrop had 15 points for the Lions (9-13, 6-2 West Coast Conference), who are off to their best start in the conference since 1989-90. Loyola Marymount has won the last four games against San Francisco.

Armondo Surratt scored 17 points and had five assists for the Dons (8-13, 4-4). His three-pointer with 2:11 left cut Loyola Marymount’s lead to 67-61.

San Diego 84, Pepperdine 71 -- Nick Lewis scored a career-high 30 points and the host Toreros (15-6, 5-3 WCC) won their fourth game in a row.

Willie Galick, who led the Waves (7-13, 3-5) with 17 points, made a three-point basket with a little under 10 minutes left to pull Pepperdine within two points.

But the Toreros went on an 11-2 run with Lewis accounting for nine points and San Diego took a 71-62 with 5:25 left.

Lewis moved into the fifth place on the school scoring list with 1,320 points.