1988_01 The Daily Collegian January 1988

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Sports
The Daily Collegian
Monday, January 25,1988
Bulldogs jinx Anteaters
By Lee Passmore
Sports Writer
For once, it was a Fresno State
opponent that was on the end of a
frustrating jinx Saturday night.
After a half of basketball that could be
described as sluggish at best, the Bulldog
men's squad turned up the juice in the
final 20 minutes and beat UC Irvine 71-
67 to hand the Anteaters their 12th
straight loss in Selland Arena.
While the loss extended Irvine's losing
streak in the unfriendly confines of
Selland, it snapped a three-game losing
streak for the 'Dogs, who improved their
record to 5-11 overall and 2-5 in the
PCAA. It was also FSUs first PCAA
win at home. UC Irvine fell to 9-7 and 4-
3 in the PCAA.
The game hardly figured to be a classic
matchup, but-early on even those who
were just casually observing the game had
to be disappointed with the sheer sloppi-
ness of play. Neither team could establish
any momentum in the first seven minutes
as the score was only 6-2 in favor of the
Bulldogs.
The Anteaters eventually did pick up
the pace and surged to a 19-15 lead after
guard Mike Hess hit two three-point
shots. Then UCI went on a 9-2 tear to
stretch their lead to 28-17. Center Wayne
Englestad scored the last five points of
the spurt on a lay-in and a three-point
shot
The 'Dogs did show a bit of flash just
before halftime as Mike Mitchell made a
pair of reverse layups. At the half, FSU
trailed 34-26.
Early in the second half, the Bulldogs
looked as if they were poised to make a
move when Jervis Cole hit a bucket to
cut the margin to 37-33. That marked the
first time the crowd really got involved in
the game.
However, the Anteaters were unphased
by that initial reaction and boosted the
lead to 50-41 on a three-point bomb by
leff Herdman with 11:16 left.
One would have been tempted to
believe at this point that the 'Dogs weie
primed to fold as they had two nights
earlier in a 14-point loss to UC Santa
Barbara, and considering FSLTs recent
fortunes, it seemed a perfect time for
Irvine to finally overcome their bad luck
at Selland Arena.
Something happened though, something that always seems to happen to
Irvine in bght games at Selland.
The Anteaters faded to execute on
offense and FSU was able to take advantage and create opportunities of their
own. Bulldog Coach Ron Adams believed
that a couple of big baskets got the
partisan crowd heavily involved in the
action.
"There wasn't any one thing that turned
Kwl HtfrWTJ.iT Co
UC Irvine's Mike Labat leaps over Kevin Stevenson for a rebound during the "Dogs 71-67 victory
Saturday at Selland Arena.
the game around," said Adams. "There
were two key baskets that got the fans
going."
The first basket was a thunderous dunk
by Mike Mitchell that cut Irvine's lead to
56-50. Shortly after that. Bulldog center
Rene Ebeltjes bulled his way inside for a
basket and drew a foul. He hit the free
throw to cut the lead to 56-53.
Irvine answered with a score to regain a
five-point lead, but the Dogs scored nine
unanswered points and broke the Ant-
eaters. Ebeltjes, who had nine points
coming off the bench, scored another
bucket to make it 58-55. Then Andre
Sims hit a three-pointer, his only score of
the night, to tie the game.
The basket that really brought the
crowd to hysteria came when Leo Walker
hit a jumper to give FSU a 60-58
advantage, their first lead of the second
half. Two Jervis Cole free throws capped
the run and gave the 'Dogs a 62-58 lead
with four minutes left
From that point on the 'Dogs had the
game in hand at the free throw Line.
Derrick Barden. who led the "Dogs with
16 points, hit both ends of a one-and-one
to stretch the lead to 65-60 with 1:10 left
in the game. A bucket by Englestad cut
the lead back to three but Walker convened two free throws to make it 67-62.
The Anteaters still had a chance with
43 seconds left, trailing 69-64. The
'Dogs, though, slammed the door when
Kevin Stevenson stole the ball from
UCI's Mike Hess and passed the ball the
length of the court to Barden who dunked
it home to punctuate the win. Englestad
hit a three-pointer for the Anteaters to
provide the final points,
UCI's offense pretry much consisted of
Englestad, who led all scorers with 23
points. He was the only Anteater in
double-figures, the first time this season
that Irvine hasn't placed at least two
players in double-figures. The Anteaters'
67 points were also a season low.
When it counted in the second half, the
Bulldogs effectively clamped Irvine's high-
scoring offense. "We got Irvine to play
our game," said Coach Adams. "We can't
run with them. They have one of the best
full-court offenses anywhere."
The Bulldogs also made adjustments
offensively in the second half which
enabled them to rally. "Irvine has improved defensively this year so we had to
move the ball around more," said Adams.
"In the first half their pressure hurt us and
we weren't operating from good spots on
the floor."
After shooting only 42 percent in the
first half, the Dogs warmed up and shot
55 percent in the second half.
In the first half Irvine did a lot of their
damage from three-point range, hitting
five of eight treys, including three by
Mike Hess. Things didn't come as easily
for the Anteaters in the second half as
they made^only^two of seven three-
pointers. ™
"We did a good job of taking away the
three-point shot in the second half," said
Adams.
Despite the victory, point guard Walker
was strangely downbeat after the game.
"We won the game and I'm glad about
that but we didn't play a good game," be
said
UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan attributed the loss more to his team's failure
from the free throw line than to any
Selland Arena jinx: "I think the jinx is
B.S. We didn't hit our free throws and we
are the third-leading free-throw shooting
team in the i
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