49ers divert UCI

Barry Faulkner

In a four-month basketball season, the twists and turns of fortune

and fate can easily number in the dozens, good and bad. But, when the

story of the 2004-05 UC Irvine men’s season is told, no change of

direction may be more meaningful than the one taken by Davis Baker’s

three-point attempt inside 20 seconds remaining and the Anteaters

trailing by three Thursday night at Long Beach State.

Baker’s shot, roughly 16 seconds after 49ers hero Kevin Houston

had missed the first of a one-and-one free-throw situation to keep

the hosts’ lead at 53-50, appeared to be at least three feet out of

the 6-foot-4 freshman reserve guard’s hand when it was summarily

swatted by 6-8 Long Beach center Onye Ibekwe.

And though the ball was retrieved by UCI’s Darren Fells not far

from where it was released, a whistle then stopped action and

officials tagged Anteater Coach Pat Douglass with a technical foul

for his adamant protest over the lack of foul call on Ibekwe.

Long Beach Jabril Hodges netted the second of the two technical

free throws to make it a two-possession game with 18.4 seconds left

and UCI fell by the wayside of a 55-50 loss.

“Obviously, I thought Davis Baker was fouled,” said Douglass, who

picked up his second technical in four games. “I should have got [the

technical], because I went out onto the court. If I didn’t think he

was fouled, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did. But I might have

been wrong [about the call]. [The technical] makes it an extra

possession. It’s not your classic move.” An Irvine win, combined with

Idaho’s loss Thursday at Cal State Fullerton, would have moved the

Anteaters into a tie for fifth place in the conference standings.

Instead, UCI (11-11, 5-9 in conference) remains in seventh, one

game ahead of the surging 49ers (6-18, 4-10), who have now won three

in a row to leave UC Riverside (3-10 in conference) and Cal Poly San

Luis Obispo (2-10) as the two teams, at this moment, left out of the

eight-team conference tournament.

The ill-fated ending, however, was not atypical of the way the

breaks treated the ‘Eaters, before 1,460 at the Pyramid.

UCI, which had relied on the three-pointer all season, made just 1

of 11 from beyond the arc, including 0 of 3 by junior guard Ross

Schraeder, who came in leading the conference with an average of

three three-pointers per game.

UCI committed just 11 turnovers and outrebounded the more athletic

hosts, 34-32. But more than a handful of those rebounds fell out of

the ‘Eaters’ grasp and out of bounds, or resulted in botched

putbacks.

After Aaron Fitzgerald missed an off-balanced three-point try with

the visitors down, 53-50, UCI teammates Greg Ethington and Schraeder

both missed follow shots that helped the hosts remain on top.

Earlier, a retreating Ethington beat gambling 49er defenders to a

loose ball in his own backcourt and quickly passed to Fitzgerald, who

would have had numbers for a potential transition opportunity that

could have narrowed a 51-48 deficit. But Fitzgerald, who one game

after being benched for an inattention to detail, had six points,

five assists and three turnovers, and made 3 of 9 field-goal tries,

appeared to take his eyes off the pass. The ball bounced off his

hands and out of bounds to give Long Beach possession.

Big West Conference

Long Beach State 55, UC Irvine 50

UC Irvine - Gloger 10, Campbell 4, Ethington 17, Schraeder 2, Fitzgerald 6, Metelski 6, Davis 3, Fells 2.

3-pt. goals - Baker.

Technicals - Coach Douglass 1.

Long Beach State - Hawkins 12, Jenkins 6, Ibekwe 4, Hodges 15,

Pearson 4, Houston 11, Coleman 3.

3-pt. goals - Hodges 2, Jenkins 2, Coleman 1, Hawkins 1.

Halftime - 26-26.