UCI falls short to Bulldogs

FRESNO — UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass’ men’s basketball team was trounced by host Fresno State, 82-51, Sunday in the finale of the Basketball Travelers Classic in front of 10,163 at the Save Mart Center.

But it was Douglass who said he owed an offseason favor to Bulldogs Coach Steve Cleveland, a UCI graduate who was MVP of the 1975-76 Anteaters and who still spends time every summer in Newport Beach.

“I take my hat off to Coach Cleveland; he has a nice club,” Douglass said after the Bulldogs (3-0) handed the Anteaters (1-2) their most lopsided defeat since an 87-49 drubbing at Utah State on Feb. 26, 2005.

“In fact, [Cleveland] kind of took it easy on us. He could have run it up to 125 if they wanted to. They had it going tonight. But he pulled the dogs off of us and I’ll have to give him a stroke on the golf course for that.”

It was the Bulldogs’ outside shooters who teed off Sunday, especially 6-foot-3 junior reserve guard Eddie Miller.

The community college transfer from Maryland, who made just four of 14 three-point attempts the first two games of the tournament, netted seven of 12 from beyond the arc Sunday, including five straight in one stretch.

But he wasn’t the only marksman for the hosts, who shot 55.4% from the field (31 of 56) and made 13 of 29 shots from threedom (44.8%).

“I was wondering with the third game in three days, if we would have the legs or the energy,” said Cleveland, the former BYU head man in his second season with the Bulldogs who is now 4-1 against UCI as a head coach. “And we had both. I thought [Saturday, a 73-63 win over South Alabama] was the worst we’d every played offensively as a team. But we were obviously a lot better.

“Pat is a great coach and a very good friend of mine. I didn’t expect it to be like that. I expected it to be a grind-out, possession-oriented game and hoped that we’d be able to win it.”

“[Douglass] is a little shorthanded,” Cleveland continued. “But [the Anteaters] competed very well in this tournament. Especially when you coach against friends, nobody ever wants to have that happen. But it was just one of those nights when everything was there for us. You have those kinds of nights. They don’t come nearly as often as you’d like, but they do come once in a while.”

The Anteaters played their third game without senior returning starter Nic Campbell (back) and senior Mark Kelley (hip), and Douglass said both would be out another two or three weeks.

Junior returning starters Patrick Sanders and Darren Fells were virtually the only offensive options for UCI, which made 19 of 49 field-goal attempts (34.7%), including just five of 19 from three-point range (26.3%).

Sanders, a 6-6 forward, made his first five shots from the field on his way to a team-high 16 points. He had two three-pointers, added six rebounds and represented the Anteaters on the all-tournament team.

Fells had 13 points and a team-leading seven boards. He made five of 10 from the field, including a three-pointer, and also had two blocks.

Adam Templeton had eight points for UCI, which had starting guards Marcus McIntosh and Chuma Awaji go a combined zero for four from the field and score just two points.

UCI had 12 turnovers, well below its 19.5 average the first two games, but struggled in the half-court offense against an active Fresno State defense.

“It starts with our defense, and our ability to rebound the ball and get into our fastbreak,” Cleveland said. “If there’s one thing we’re going to do, it’s run. Makes or misses, we’re going to run.”

Dominic McGuire had 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Hector Hernandez added 12 points for Fresno State.

Quinton Hosley had 10 rebounds and junior point guard Kevin Bell had eight points and no turnovers for the winners.

McGuire was named tournament MVP, while Hosley and Ja’Vance Coleman were additional Bulldogs on the all-tournament team.

The Anteaters, who had not played former Big West Conference rival Fresno State since 1992, will head home to play host to two-time defending NIT champion South Carolina Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.

Basketball Travelers Classic

Fresno State 82,

UC Irvine 51

UC Irvine -- Sanders 16, Templeton 8, Fells 13, McIntosh 0, Awaji 2, Hunter 5, DeCasas 5, Gieler 2.

3-pt. goals -- Sanders 2, Templeton 2, Fells 1.

Fouled out -- Peake.

Technicals -- None.

Fresno State -- McGuire 13, Hosley 8, Hernandez 12, Coleman 7, Bell 7, Miller 23, Cesar 4, Taylor 2, Parker 2, Tchana 2, Blair 2.

3-pt. goals -- Miller 7, Hernandez 2, Coleman 2, McGuire 1, Bell 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Technicals -- None.

Halftime -- 38-27, Fresno State.