Jan. 15, 2009

Box Score

Irvine, Calif. - The Tiger men's basketball team fell in the final seconds on the road at UC Irvine, 52-51, on Thursday, Jan. 17. With the loss, the Tigers are now 9-6 overall, 2-2 in in the Big West Conference. The Anteaters are now 5-11, 3-1 in league games.

Pacific's first half was its worst of the year, shooting just 3-for-22 from the field. The Tigers made just one of 13 field goal attempts, falling behind 11-2. A pair of free throws from sophomore Terrell Smith (Federal Way, Wash.) and a basket by junior Casey Neimeyer made it 11-6. Senior Bryan LeDuc (Corona, Calif.) scored the final nine points of the half for the Tigers, but Pacific was outscored 19-9 over the final 10 minutes to trail 30-15 at the break.

Senior James Doran (Cameron Park, Calif.) opened the second half with a three-pointer, as the Tigers embarked on a big run to take the lead. LeDuc hit a three-pointer with 10:28 left to cap a 21-5 run and give the Tigers a 36-35 lead. The Anteaters struck back to pull ahead 41-40, but Sam Willard (Pierre, Calif.) hit one of two free throws to tie it up at 41-41 with 5:31 remaining. A 6-0 run gave the Anteaters a 47-41 lead, but the Tigers rallied again. Doran hit another three-pointer and a free throw while Willard hit a jumper to knot it at 47-47 with just 1:39 left. On the next Anteater possession, Brett Lauer hit a three-point and was fouled. He made the free throw to complete a four-point play and give the Anteaters a 51-47 advantage with 1:20 to go. LeDuc hit a pair of free throws on the next trip down the court for the Tigers and senior Michael Kirby (North Highlands, Calif.) scored on a layup with :47 seconds remaining to even it up again at 51-51. As the shot clock wound down on UC Irvine's next possession Pacific was whistled for a foul and Eric Wise hit one of two free throws to give the Anteaters a 52-51 lead. The Tigers had a final shot, but senior Chad Troyer's three-pointer was just off the mark. The ball was knocked out of bounds by UC Irvine, giving the Tigers one final chance but it had to be a tip because there was 0.2 seconds left. The inbounds pass was knocked away and the Anteaters held on for the victory.

LeDuc was the only Tiger to score in double figures, getting a game-high 20 points. Willard had a game-high nine rebounds. With LeDuc's great game off the bench, the Tigers held a 29-3 advantage in bench scoring in the second half, 42-11 for the game. Pacific hit 13-of-24 shots in the second half, a 54.2 percentage, but shot just 34.8 percent for the game after the poor first half shooting.

The Tigers are next in action on Saturday, January 17 with a game at Cal State Fullerton. The tip is set for 8:00 p.m. on ESPN2 at Titan Gym.