Harris (30) leads UCI, 75-69

Amara Aguilar

For once, senior guard Jerry Green was not the leading man for the

UC Irvine men’s basketball team.

Although Green did play a significant role in the Anteaters’

come-from-behind 75-69 victory over Long Beach State, it was Jordan

Harris who stole the spotlight in UCI’s Big West Conference opener at the

Bren Events Center Saturday.

Harris had a game-high 30 points and nine rebounds, followed by

Stanislav Zuzak (16 points, seven rebounds) and Green (13 points, six

rebounds).

“(Harris) made some big buckets at a time when we needed to break out

a little bit,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said.

The Anteaters went on a 10-1 run sparked by Harris in the final 3:25

of the game to close out the 49ers.

Green took a shot and missed with 49.1 seconds left, but Harris put

back the rebound to give the Anteaters a 71-68 lead.

Ron Johnson (16 points) hit one of two free-throw attempts, but Harris

returned the favor, making one of two from the free-throw line to give

the Anteaters a 72-69 lead.

Again, Long Beach State got into foul trouble, this time sending Green

to the line. He hit both shots to put the game out of reach, 74-69, with

7.9 seconds left.

Zuzak made another free throw to seal the victory for the Anteaters

(6-4,1-0 in the Big West).

“Free throws can make you or break you,” Green said. “They made us

tonight.”

Green, last year’s Big West Conference Player of the Year and this

season’s leading scorer for UCI, was held to only three points in the

first half.

“There’s going to be times when I am not going to be the man,” Green

said. “I was trying to get my teammates open and get them the ball on

offense. I didn’t want to try to do too much so that they would have to

sit back and watch me. I was trying to get my teammates the ball.”

Green was also concentrating on cutting down his turnovers. He had a

game-high eight against UCLA on Dec. 15.

“He turned the ball over a little bit too much last game (against

UCLA), so he was working on his passing and making sure he got it to

offensive guys,” Douglass said. “I just told him at halftime, you need to

take your shot and quit worrrying about passing the ball so much.”

Green did a pretty good job, scoring 10 second-half points to spark

the Anteaters against a Long Beach State team that kept the pressure on.

“When (Long Beach State) got hot, I said, ‘OK, it’s my turn,”’ Green

said.

Harris scored the last six points of the first half to give UCI a

35-34 lead at the break, but the 49ers went on an 8-2 run to start the

second half and took it’s largest lead of the game, 37-44, with 16:49

left on a two-pointer by Tony Darden.

“We seemed to come out flat sometimes,” Harris said. “But we got it

together and pulled out the win.”

UCI did not draw even until Harris scored six straight points to make

tie it at 53 with 9:30 remaining.

The Anteaters traded leads with the 49ers until UCI went on an 8-2

run, with all eight points coming from Harris, to take a 71-68 lead with

under a minute left.

“My jump shot felt pretty good,” Harris said. “They were dropping and

I was getting offensive rebounds. Coach (Douglass) was running some plays

for me that worked out pretty well and he just said take them on the

bounce, so that’s what I was doing.”

Harris’ 30 points were a career-high for him as an Anteater. He once

had 33 points while playing for Colgate University.With the victory, the

Anteaters extended their school-record home winning streak to 16.

The 49ers, extended their losing streak to six and fall to 3-8, 0-1.

“We are looking at the loss as a game to build on,” Long Beach State

Coach Wayne Morgan said. “We played hard for 40 minutes. I think overall

we played well.”