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Men's Basketball:
UC Irvine Falls to Oregon 84-77
Nov. 21, 2008 IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine senior forward Kevin Bland led all scorers with a career-high 26 points, but the Anteaters fell to Oregon, 84-77, in a non-conference game before 4,206 at the Bren Events Center Friday night. Bland hit 12 of 14 from the field and scored 18 of his points in the second half. Freshman forward Eric Wise added 16 points and junior center Zack Atkinson had 10 rebounds for UCI, which fell to 0-3 on the season. Chad DeCasas scored eight points while Atkinson and Michael Hunter scored seven each. Darren Moore recorded four steals for the 'Eaters. Junior guard Tajuan Porter scored 23 points to lead the Ducks. He was 4 of 7 from the field, including 3 of 5 on threes, plus hit all12 of his free-throw attempts. LeKendric Longmire and Joevan Catron added 12 points each and Michael Dunigan had 11 points and seven rebounds as the Ducks improved to 2-1 on the season. Oregon led 39-34 at halftime and both teams shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half. The Ducks built their biggest lead of the night at 55-40 on a three by Porter with 15:22 remaining. UCI scored the next eight points, capped by a three-pointer by Chad DeCasas, to close within 55-48 with 14:02 left. Oregon built a double-digit lead on several more occasions but the Anteaters made one more run, closing to within 72-66 on a layup by Bland with 1:44 remaining, but Porter hit 10 of 10 free throws in the final 53 seconds to seal the victory. Oregon shot 50.9 percent from the floor for the game and hit 11 of 19 threes. UCI shot 50.8 percent from the field. "Oregon's ability to hit the three was big," UCI head coach Pat Douglass said. "We need to continue to improve and the wins will come, we just to have to work on some things.
"Kevin Bland was our go-to guy tonight and Zack Atkinson hit the boards well. Eric Wise had a solid game and he is going to be a fine player." The Anteaters play their next four games on the road, beginning next Friday night at Idaho with a 7:05 p.m. start. |
