SoCalHoops College News

UCI Loses To Portland Pilots 68-54--(Dec. 1, 1998)

The UCI Anteaters commited 33 turnovers which was just a few more than the Pilots committed (28), but it was enough to help them lose the game, 68-54 in Portland last night. UCI now drops to 1-4. Despite the high hopes which came with the recruiting of players like Jerry Green, this year's start is frighteningly similar to last year when UCI went 1-5 before they won their first game, which was, ironically, against Portland, albeit at home.

The difference was not so much the turnovers themselves, which obviously hurt, it was the failure of the Anteaters to capitalize on their own defensive turnovers, as the Pilots scored 35 points off turnovers, while Irvine only score 21.

"We had every intention of doing the right things," UCI coach Pat Douglass told the media last night after the game. "They turned it over as much as we did and we had the opportunity to go up, but we didn't capitalize."

Irvine was pretty successful in the first half defensively, holding the Piolt's leading scorer, Jason Franklin,  who averages about 15 usually, to just two points. But in the second half it all came unraveled and in less than a minute Franklin score 6 points and Portland went on a 13-2 shooting spree, which pushed the score from 25-21 to 38-23.

Irvine freshmen Jerry Green and Gabe Cagwin tried to bring the Anteaters back, but neither was able to really be very effective, and Cagwin ended the night with 12 points, which was a team high for the Anteaters.  And it only got worse, as Portland stretched the 15 point lead to as many as 25 before the game mercifully ended. "In the second half, they woke up, but we stayed in the same state as we performed before in the first half," Douglass said.

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