UCI sees it big chance fade away

Steve Virgen

It happened again.

For the third straight year, UC Irvine missed its opportunity to

reach the Big West Tournament final. The Anteaters have not reached

the Big West Conference championship game since 1994, when they were

the 10th seed.

This time, UCI was the No. 2 seed and fell under the commonly held

college basketball belief that you can’t beat a team three times in

one season.

The Anteaters (20-9) fell to the Aggies, 61-55, in a semifinal

Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“It was a good college basketball game,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass

said. “You have two teams that went at it, fought tooth and nail, and

somebody was going to win it.”

Douglass spoke candidly about what could be in his team’s near or

distant future.

“We’re going to the NCAAs at some point,” he said. “It’s not

something I’ll lose sleep over. This season will end, we’ll have a

banquet, I’ll play some golf and we’ll get ready to get some recruits

in. The media will write about (going to the Big Dance), but it’s not

an issue for me.”

Douglass said Jeff Gloger’s right ankle injury, suffered in the

second half, definitely hurt his team. He also said the Anteaters

would await Sunday night word on receiving an NIT berth.

UCI and Utah State games are almost always epic. It has been that

way for the past three seasons. The teams have been separated by a

total of five points in the last four meetings. UCI has won three of

those.

Desmond Penigar, the Aggies’ star forward who scored 24 points,

got behind UCI’s defense and scored on a breakaway dunk with 19

seconds left to give Utah State a 59-55 lead. There appeared to be a

breakdown in UCI’s defense out of a timeout.

With 36 seconds left, Utah State’s Cardell Butler drove the lane

and hit a short runner over Adam Parada to give Utah State a 57-55

lead. Then UCI senior guard Mike Hood, under heavy pressure, missed a

three-pointer and the ball went to Aggie Spencer Nelson, who called a

timeout. Hood thought he was fouled.

In the mayhem during the closing moments, UCI freshman Mike

Efevberha missed a three-pointer and Butler nailed two free throws

for the winning points.

Hood, who had been a thorn in the Aggies’ side, led the Anteaters

with 14 points.

The Aggies reached their fourth straight Big West Tournament

Championship game.

It figured this one would be close.

The last time these two teams met, Hood had to hit two free throws

with 1.3 seconds left to give UCI a 59-58 win. And, earlier in the

season, Hood scored the game-winning bucket, a seemingly improbable

scoop shot to beat the buzzer in overtime for a 75-73 win.

In Friday night’s game, the Anteaters went up, 45-35, with 14:35

left, but Utah State came right back. The Aggies went on an 11-3 run,

capped by Toraino Johnson’s three-pointer, which brought Utah State

to within 48-46 and prompted a UCI timeout with 10 minutes left. The

Aggies eventually grabbed a 55-54 lead with 4:42 left and the teams

battled back and forth down the stretch.

UCI junior forward Stanislav Zuzak, who scored all 13 of his

points in the first half, proved to be an important factor. He

started in his first game since Feb. 22, when the Anteaters defeated

University of the Pacific, 78-73, in overtime.

Before UCI’s next game, at Cal Poly, Feb. 27, Zuzak went to Coach

Douglass and asked to be taken out of the lineup. He complained of

pain in his heels, but it was clear his confidence had been down and

Matt Okoro replaced him for the next four games.

But then came Friday and Zuzak re-entered the starting lineup. He

shouted into the air and pumped his fists after each three-pointer he

drained. This was a high-intense game.

The early moments had all the makings of a heavyweight bout. This

had been the matchup the Big West was hoping for the past two

seasons, as the squads have been the class of the conference and the

top two teams prior to this year.

UCI went on a 13-2 run, fueled by Hood and Zuzak. Hood nailed two

straight three-pointers and Zuzak scored seven points in the run.

After Utah State scored, to cut the lead to 23-14 with 7:56 left,

Hood answered with another three-pointer. Mark Brown, the Aggies’

point guard, swung back with a three-pointer. But Zuzak then hammered

home a three-pointer for a 29-17 lead with 6:03 left.

Zuzak hit 3 of 5 from three-point range, while Hood netted all

three of his treys.

UCI built a 32-17 lead with 4:25 left, but the Aggies closed out

the half with an 8-0 run, trailing, 32-25, at halftime.