College men’s basketball: Anteaters’ Madness

Barry Faulkner

ANAHEIM - This time there were no Jerry Green dramatics. There was

no last-second answered prayers. No UC Irvine intervention.

Another historic season came to a close for the No 2-seeded Anteaters

with a 66-61 loss to UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals of the Big West

Conference Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center Friday night.

UCI, down, 65-61, with six seconds left, tried twice to get the ball

to its two-time Big West Player of the Year. But Mark Hull stole the

second inbound pass meant for Green and fed teammate Nick Jones for the

exclamation layup as time expired. The win put UCSB (19-10) into the Big WEst title game for the first time in 27 years.

It also likely ended the season for UCI (21-10), which won a share of

its second straight regular-season conference title and posted its second

straight 20-win season, also a program first.

UCI led, 36-31, at halftime. But the Gauchos rallied for leads of

39-38 and 42-40 on three-pointers by Hull and Branduinn Fullove,

respectively.

The first of two big 18-foot jumpers by Aras Baskuskas put UCI up

50-49, with 8:33 left.

Just more than four minutes later, Green drilled a three-pointer to

knot the score at 55 with 4:14 left. After Adam Parada tipped in a Green

miss to tie it at 57, Mike Hood sank two free throws for a two-point edge

with 2:22 left.

Jones, who led the winners with 21 points, hit a runner in traffic

with 2:04 left.

After Hood missed a three-pointer, Adama Ndiaye hit two free throws

for a 61-59 lead with 1:03 left.

On Irvine’s subsequent possession, Hood’s pass to Matt Okoro dribbled

out of bounds with 39 seconds left. Ndiaye was then fouled with 23 ticks

remaining andhit the first of two double-bonus free throws for a

three-point cushion.

Green connected on a 15-foot baseline jumper with 15 seconds left, but

UCI wasted more than eight seconds before fouling intentionally.

Jacoby Atako calmly sank both free throws and Irvine’s bid for the

school’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament fizzled in the end.

Green finished with 17 points and eight assists, while Parada, a

7-foot sophomore center, had a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds.

“Both (Green and Parada) rose to the occasion in back-to-back games

tonight,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “Parada is a player of the future

for us, and Green had a remarkable career.

“As a coach, you like for your seniors to go out in a championship

game or in the NCAA Tournament.

We had Santa Barbara on the ropes a little in the first half, but (the

No. 3-seeded Gauchos) hung tough and hit a couple of big buckets when

they needed to.”