UC Irvine Again Falls Behind, Stays There

MORAGA, Calif. â€”  UC Irvine’s less-than-magical misery tour ended Tuesday night at St. Mary’s, where the Anteaters, who have done more excavating than a team of archeologists in the last few days, dug themselves another hole they couldn’t climb out of.

Irvine fell behind Georgetown, 25-6, Saturday, and was subsequently buried by the Hoyas, 93-64. Against the Gaels, the Anteaters trailed, 22-6, before finally going under, 104-95.

“We started the game as if we were in a daze,� Coach Rod Baker said, “but we made it manageable pretty quickly. We got it down to eight three minutes later. We just didn’t make the basketball plays.�

Irvine (2-4) cut the lead to seven points four times in the first half and had three chances in the last 10 minutes to get back into the game. They trailed, 80-71, with 7:22 to play, but guard Zuri Williams couldn’t inbound the ball in the allowed five seconds. The score was 86-78 with 5:25 remaining when Lloyd Mumford knocked down Darrell Daniel away from the ball, and Daniel made both free throws. With 4:26 to play, Jermaine Avie fouled out on a hold away from the ball, and A.J. Rollins made a pair of free throws.

“Everybody took a turn,� Baker said. “It seemed like everybody had the opportunity to do something wrong and they did.�

St. Mary’s (6-1) had three players with 21 or more points. Guards Chris Johnson and Daniel, who made a combined nine of 17 three-pointers, scored 28 and 21, respectively. Rollins had 22 points and nine rebounds.

Irvine, which made 11 of 21 shots from three-point range, also turned the ball over 19 times.