Irvine Wins and Makes a Point

The game was for eighth place in the Big West Conference, and UC Irvine won it, 91-83, but don’t suggest to Coach Rod Baker that Saturday’s victory over Cal State Fullerton was any less important than when the teams meet again in the postseason tournament.

“This was a very important game for us,” Baker said. “We hadn’t beaten this team before, and they’re the team that put us on the road to trouble in our first conference game. The way we looked at it, we needed to send a message”

The Anteaters did, and Baker hopes it will carry over a few days down the road.

The teams will meet at 3 p.m. Thursday in the opening round of the Big West tournament in Las Vegas. Irvine finished the regular season 11-15 overall and 6-12 in the conference. Fullerton, struggling late in the season with two regulars out with injuries, wound up 7-19, 5-13.

The big difference between this game and Fullerton’s 74-68 victory in January was Irvine point guard Raimonds Miglinieks, who scored a career-high 25 points and had 10 assists.

Miglinieks, who ranks third in the nation in assists, hit 11 of 12 free throws and was six of 10 from the field.

Chuck Overton led the Titans with a career-high 26 points.