Men’s basketball: Anteaters downed by Toreros

Richard Dunn

SAN DIEGO - There are some things UC Irvine men’s basketball Coach

Pat Douglass just can’t explain, such as why his Anteaters have never

defeated the University of San Diego.

The host Toreros (5-3) rallied from a first-half deficit and slowed

down UCI’s vaunted scoring machine, Jerry Green as they beat the

Anteaters, 63-52, Tuesday night in nonconference action.

Green, who ranks fifth nationally with a scoring average of 24.9

points per game, was limited to just 16 points against the Toreros,

shooting five of 13 from the field, including four of 11 from three-point

territory.

“He is a marked player, our best player,” Douglass said of Green, one

of 50 selections to this season’s Wooden Award Preseason All-American

team.

“I felt they sacrificed some scoring in order to defend Jerry.”

San Diego, which gave UCI (5-3) its only home loss last season, 63-60,

has won the last six meetings against the Anteaters. Douglass is in his

fifth season.

“I don’t have an answer to that,” USD Coach Brad Holland said of the

streak. “We’ve had some good success against (the Anteaters), and they

were a very good team last year and I think they are going to win 20

games again this year. So we’ve had two outstanding years against them.”

USD matched up senior guard Andre Laws against Green.

“The toughest thing to do against a player like Jerry Green is to keep

him in front of you and have him go east and west and not north and

south,” Holland said. “We had good (defensive) rotation and people were

helping out. I don’t think Jerry saw a lot of open lanes.”

Laws finished with a game-high 17 points and four steals, while Scott

Boardman came off the bench and ignited USD with three steals and

in-your-face defense on Green.

“Scottie’s an energy guy and he understands that’s his role,” Holland

said. “He was a spark for us that way tonight.”

Green, who also had six of UCI’s 23 turnovers, moved ahead of Wayne

Engelstad (1984-88) and into third place on UCI’s all-time scoring list

with 1,532 points. Dave Baker (1971-75) is next on the list for Green to

pass at 1,601. Tod Murphy (1982-86) is UCI’s all-time leading scorer at

1,778.

In the first half, Irvine opened up a 20-11 lead with 11:42 on the

clock when Mike Hood canned a three-pointer, capping a 10-2 scoring run.

But for UCI, which had only one turnover in the first 8:18 of the

game, it was a tale of two halves. The Anteaters turned the ball over

five times in a two and a half minute span, including three straight

possessions, as the Toreros cut the deficit to 20-16.

Turnovers have been the Anteaters’ Achilles’ heel so far in the young

season, and they showed why again, committing 13 turnovers in the last 11

and a half minutes of the first half.

“We got off to a pretty good start, then they shut us down,” Douglass

said. “We had way too many turnovers in the first half even though we

shot pretty well at over 50% (10 of 19).”

San Diego took its first lead, 27-25, when Jason Blair sank two free

throws with three minutes left in the first half. UCI tied it, 27-27, but

the Toreros scored six straight points and enjoyed a 33-28 halftime lead.

Irvine pulled to within 42-40 when center Adam Parada scored on a slam

dunk with 11:50 remaining in the second half. But USD went on a 13-3 run

to build a comfortable 55-43 advantage with only 6:27 left in the game.