Another Close Loss Leaves Irvine Empty

By CHRIS FOSTER

Feb. 13, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

IRVINE — The wear and tear was showing Thursday, not without reason.

UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass was tie-less the last nine minutes in a 60-51 loss to Utah State in front of 1,679 Thursday in the Bren Center, and Adam Stetson-less the last seven minutes.

There was little patience for chit-chat afterward.

“Let’s make this quick,” Douglass said to reporters.

About using that 16th different starting lineup in 21 games?

“Next question,” he said.

Six losses in seven games can leave one a little cranky, especially when so many have been so close. This one was no different.

Douglass yanked the tie off when Utah State’s Kevin Rice scored and was fouled. His free throw made it 42-38 with 9 minutes 19 seconds left.

But he didn’t yank Stetson, the team’s leading scorer, who picked up his fourth foul on the play. Douglass said they didn’t know it was his fourth.

A little more than a minute later, Stetson was gone, after scoring 15 points. The Anteater offense went with him. The Aggies (19-5, 10-1) were up, 44-43, and went on an 8-2 run.

“Adam had one foul on the stat sheet at halftime and we didn’t check it in the score book,” Douglass said. “That was a big turning point for us.”

It left the Anteaters (7-14, 4-7) with another close loss.

“We are trying as hard we can, it’s not like we’re trying to create moral victories,” Douglass said. “They eventually wore us down. We were playing the first-place team [in the Eastern Division] and we made them go the route.

“We’re trying. It’s not the same as last year, the team is not getting blown out . . .”

The Anteaters remained tied for second place in the Western Division and in control of their destiny for making the conference tournament.

Irvine, Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara are within one game of each other, while Pacific is in first. One of the drab four will miss the tournament.

“There’s definitely is a sense of urgency,” Stetson said. “We can’t wait around for the other teams to eliminate themselves. We have to do some eliminating ourselves.

“We had a chance to do something about tonight, against a good team.”

But the Aggies proved to be too good and too balanced. No one player keyed the break out in the last seven minutes, just contributions from the cast.

Neal Geddes sank a three-pointer--his only points--for 52-45 lead with five minutes left. Center Donnie Johnson scored off an offensive rebound with a 1:31 left, after Irvine had cut the score to 52-49. Marcus Saxon, who scored a game-high 18 points, hit three free throws in the last minute.

It led to the Aggies’ 14th victory in 16 games, although it was far from a breeze.

Irvine stayed close, as Andrew Carlson scored eight of his 10 points in the first half. Stetson also had eight in the first half, which ended with his steal and basket.

Utah State was leading, 29-24, and took three shots, two off offensive rebounds. A fourth attempt didn’t happen, as Stetson stole the ball, dribbled to the top of the key, and sank a jumper.

“We didn’t play smart, taking three shots in 15 seconds instead of running the clock down showed that,” Utah State Coach Larry Eustachy said. “I think we thought we could just show up and play.”

That attitude seemed to change after the Anteaters scored eight consecutive points early in the second half to take a 34-32 lead. Their last lead was, 38-37, after two Stetson free throws.

Utah State’s Kevin Rice scored seven of his 13 points in the last 10 minutes. The Aggies also had only one turnover in that time.