Old-school triumph

IRVINE — Coach Pat Douglass saw his UC Irvine men’s basketball team go old-school against his old school Wednesday night.

The Anteaters, trailing, 38-35, at halftime, after the Roadrunners had their way with the hosts’ defense, turned up the heat on defense, which led to some easier second-half shots, en route to an 85-72 nonconference win before 933 at the Bren Events Center.

“Once we started to get some stops, then we got a little bit of a lead,” said Douglass, who coached Cal State Bakersfield to 257 wins and three NCAA Division II national championships in 10 seasons, before moving to UCI after the third NCAA crown in 1997. “I was proud of the way we came out in the second half and battled back. And we were very effective going inside.”

Freshman center Eric Wise led the winners (6-12) with 20 points, making six of nine field-goal attempts and eight of 10 foul shots. He also added six rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.

Senior forward Kevin Bland also sparkled, posting 14 points and 10 rebounds, while sharing the team lead with four assists and adding two steals.

“I thought Bland had one of his better ballgames,” Douglass said. “He stepped up a little bit tonight and that was good to see.”

Bland said the Anteaters’ second-half surge, which produced 50 points on 18-of-30 shooting from the field (60%), including four of six from three-point range, began with defense.

“In the first half, [the Roadrunners (5-14)] were knocking down shots and penetrating on us,” said Bland, who had averaged 6.4 points and 5.0 rebounds in his previous five games and had not scored more than 11 points since a 21-point, 13-rebound windfall against Utah on Dec. 27. “They were getting wide-open looks. At halftime, coach said to just make them tough shots, at least. We scored 50 points in the second half and that was just playing good defense, then getting out and running [23 points off 12 Bakersfield turnovers for the game]. Our defense is turning into offense. And, now that we’ve learned that, guys are getting more excited about defense.”