IRVINE — UC Irvine’s athletic nickname is, of course, the Anteaters. But to UC Riverside’s basketball program, they might as be the white whale, the character in Moby Dick that was endlessly pursued but never caught.
Or maybe the Highlanders’ pursuit of UCI could be considered a Sisyphean task, with a boulder that they just can’t quite get up the mountain.
UCR and UCI came into Saturday night’s game at the Bren Events Center separated by a half-game in the Big West Conference standings. The gulf looked far more imposing after the Anteaters’ 83-64 victory, on a night when UCI shot 56.7% from the field, held UCR to 35.6%, and outscored the Highlanders 38-20 in the paint, 16-1 on fast-breaks and 22-6 in bench scoring.
This wasn’t a season-breaker, mind you. UCI is 10-3 in conference play (17-8 overall) and a game behind first-place UC Santa Barbara, with a chance to avenge an earlier loss to the Gauchos coming up Wednesday night in Santa Barbara. UCR is 9-5 and 16-10 and tied with Long Beach State for fourth place, with a rematch with LBSU coming up Wednesday night in Riverside.
But, with the conference tournament now four weeks away, in a one-bid league, the idea is to be building to a crescendo. UCR, with starting center Kyle Owens likely done for the season because of injury, needs everyone else at peak efficiency and had much less Saturday night, getting 22 points from Australian freshman Lachlan Olbrich and 12 from senior guard Zyon Pullin on 4-for-11 shooting.
For UCI, junior Dawson Baker scored 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting and fellow junior DJ Davis – from Riverside Poly, and thus one who got away from UCR – added 18 while going 6 for 11 with four 3-pointers. The Anteaters led 38-27 at halftime, broke it open with a 16-5 run early in the second half and led by 28 with 6:44 left.
“That felt like two years ago in the (Big West Tournament) semis (a 78-61 loss in Henderson, Nevada), and just the guys not understanding what it’s going…
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