UCI upset bid proves Doubley tough

Barry Faulkner

For the second time this season, the UC Irvine men’s basketball team

flirted with putting an end to what is becoming known in Big West

Conference circles as “the streak.” But host University of the

Pacific held off the scrappy Anteaters, 71-61, for a Big West triumph

Thursday night before 4,587 at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

The win was UOP’s 13th in a row. But it was also the school’s 24th

straight regular-season conference victory, tying a school record,

and its 26th in a row against Big West foes, including the

postseason.

The Tigers (17-2, 11-0 in conference) have never started a season

better, nor have they ever won their first 11 conference games.

But those numbers appeared in jeopardy from the outset, as UCI

(10-8, 4-6), which came out in a two-three zone that slowed the

Tigers, bolted to a 10-0 lead.

UOP rallied for a 30-26 halftime advantage, but UCI found its

starting gear once again after intermission, surging to a 33-32 lead

on Ross Schraeder’s three-pointer with 18:11 remaining.

Another Schraeder three-pointer put the visitors up, 48-46, with

9:15 left. Yet, despite the ‘Eaters’ valiant zone defense, the Tigers

seemed to find an answer when they needed it most.

Most often, that answer was 6-foot-1 senior guard David Doubley.

Doubley’s three-pointer with 7:46 left broke a 48-48 tie and he

followed a subsequent Irvine miss with a six-foot floater in

transition to give UCI a deficit it could not overcome.

Doubley hit 8 of 11 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 4 from

three-point range, and was also 2 of 2 at the line, en route to a

game-high 21 points. He scored his team’s first eight points to help

counter the early Anteater blitz.

Doubley’s foul shooting was typical for the Tigers, who drained 25

of 29 from the stripe (86.2%).

“Their zone slowed us down, there’s no question,” UOP Coach Bob

Thomason said. “But David shot the ball well, we got some offensive

rebounds, which helped us, and our free-throw shooting was the

difference in the game.”

Pacific’s nine offensive boards helped the hosts post a 35-24

rebounding advantage. UCI, which also struggled, at times, against

UOP’s zone defense, was a mere 6 of 10 from the foul line.

“We played hard,” said UCI Coach Pat Douglass, whose team fell to

UOP, 67-65, on a Guillaume Yango 15-foot jump shot with three seconds

left Jan. 8 in Irvine. “They’re a very difficult team to guard

man-to-man, so we switched up.”

Schraeder, who had just one shot in a scoreless second half after

scoring 13 before intermission in the first meeting with Pacific,

made 4 of 5 three-pointers and 7 of 11 from the field to lead the

Anteaters with 18 points.

Senior Greg Ethington chipped in 17 points, including 2 of 4 from

threedom (he entered the game 1 for 6 from beyond the arc this

season), while junior guard Jeff Gloger had 12 points.

Aaron Fitzgerald produced nine assists and six points, while Nic

Campbell shared the team rebounding lead with Ethington (five).

“There have been a lot of positives in our losses and there were

things [Thursday night] we can build on,” Ethington said. “We came

out firing, but we let it slip away a little in the last five

minutes. We had a chance, but we just couldn’t pull off the upset.

And coming into a place like this and winning would have been an

upset.”

Yango collected 18 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots,

while Jasko Korajkic, 8 of 9 from the foul line, chipped in 12 points

for the winners.

UCI drops into a seventh-place tie with UC Riverside.

ZOTS -- Since Jan. 1, 2004, the University of the Pacific has

posted 36 wins, the most by an NCAA Division I men’s basketball team

in that span. The Tigers are 33-3 in their last 36 games, with two of

those losses coming to Kansas.

Big West Conference

Pacific 71, UC Irvine 61

UC Irvine - Campbell 8, Gloger 12, Ethington 17, Schraeder 18,

Fitzgerald 6.

3-pt. goals - Schraeder 4, Ethington 2, Campbell 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Pacific - Maraker 6, Korajkic 12, Yango 18, Doubley 21, Webb 0,

Newton 8, Mihailovic 4, Gray 2.

3-pt. goals - Doubley 3, Mihailovic 1.

Fouled out - Newton.

Technicals - None.

Halftime - Pacific, 30-26.