Itā€™s Home Sour Home for Irvine as Utah State Scores 87-84 Victory

Once, Crawford Hall was an arena to be feared.

Opposing players came in here and giggled when they took a look around. They laughed when they heard how many people it held (1,467). They held their sides when they saw that one side of this hall is really a stage, complete with curtains.

It was easy to make fun of Crawford Hall, but never easy to win here. Entering this season, UC Irvineā€™s basketball team had won 36 of 40 games at home. The Anteaters were 10-0 here last season. They beat Fresno State and the University of Nevada Las Vegas here.

Crawford Hall used to be a pit. Now, for the Anteaters, itā€™s just the pits.

Utah State beat UC Irvine Thursday night, 87-84, in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game played at, yes, Crawford Hall.

It was the fifth loss at home this season for UCI, which fell to 4-6 in conference and 9-12 overall.

This has been a tough enough year for the Anteaters, but losing at Crawford Hall, well . . ā€œItā€™s a little tough to take,ā€ UCI Coach Bill Mulligan said. ā€œIf I had the answer, Iā€™d give it to you.ā€

Winning shots used to fall for UCI at Crawford Hall. The ball wouldnā€™t dare jump out of the basket, not with 1,000 screaming fans pressed up against courtside.

Not any more.

With one second left, UCIā€™s Rick Ciaccio took the ball from beyond the three-point line and put up a shot that could have sent the game into overtime.

Not this season. Ciaccioā€™s shot caromed off the back board and UCI had lost another.

Junior Tod Murphy said playing at Crawford Hall used to be different. In the rare times that UCI lost here, Murphy would run off the court without speaking to anyone.

But UCI players donā€™t seem to be taking losing quite as hard these days. Afterward, they joked with Utah State players as if it were just another game.

ā€œI donā€™t know what it is,ā€ Murphy said. ā€œItā€™s strange. I canā€™t explain it. Iā€™m used to winning here. Weā€™ve got so many new players this year (six freshmen). Maybe they donā€™t realize the background we had here or the hex it put on other teams.ā€

Or maybe UCI just isnā€™t as good as in past years.

The Anteaters shot well as a team (53%), but made mistakes near the end that just didnā€™t happen in years past.

With 25 seconds left and the Anteaters trailing by just two points, UCI had the ball. But freshman guard Rodney Scott threw the ball away to Utah Stateā€™s Bill Floyd, who was fouled going to the basket. He made one free throw, setting up UCIā€™s desperation attempt to tie the game.

This has been a long season for Mulligan, who has never had a losing season in 18 years as a head coach.

Utah State improved to 4-5 in PCAA play and to 11-7 overall.

The Aggies held a four-point lead at halftime and kept the game close despite the fact that their best player, forward Greg Grant, spent much of the second half on the bench because of foul trouble.

ā€œI think we learned that we sometimes have to be able to play without Greg Grant,ā€ Utah State Coach Rod Tueller said.

Jeff Anderson led Utah State with 25 points, while guard Vince Washington added 23. Grant had 16.

Center Johnny Rogers led UCI in scoring with 23 points. Freshman forward Wayne Engelstad played his best game of the season, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.