Matador defense too tough

Barry Faulkner

UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass knew it was coming. And he tried to use

Friday’s practice to help prepare his Anteaters for the quick, mobile

and aggressive one-three-one half-court trap that helped Cal State

Northridge rally for a first-round Big West Conference road win.

But Matadors Coach Bobby Braswell did a little scheming of his own

Friday to help his second-place unit frustrate UCI once again, en

route to a 79-60 triumph before 1,522 at the Matadome.

“Again, we couldn’t handle their half-court trap,” Douglass said

after his team committed 13 of its 18 turnovers while building a

36-23 halftime deficit.

“Did we work on it? Yes. But we just couldn’t do what we had

practiced.” Making matters worse for the visitors (10-9, 4-7 in

conference) was the Matadors use of six different defenses, including

a box-and-one on junior sharpshooter Ross Schraeder.

“In my nine years here, we’ve never used the box-and-one, before,”

Braswell said. “I don’t know what got me thinking of it. I guess it

was watching Schraeder in that mask [a face mask to protect a nasal

fracture] knocking down threes against someone.”

Braswell said the box-and-one was responsible for most of the

Anteaters’ scoring drought of five minutes, 21 seconds late in the

first half..

The UCI scoreless stretch began with 6:09 left in the half, after

Schraeder netted his third three ball to pull the ‘Eaters within

24-21.

The Matadors (12-9, 9-3) scored the game’s next 12 points, before

UCI junior point guard Aaron Fitzgerald scored on a layup to finalize

the halftime score.

And things never got markedly better for the Anteaters, who

finished 21 of 46 from the field (45.7%), but just 5 of 19 from

three-point range (26.3%).

In addition to 14 steals, Braswell said his team amassed 38

deflections, eight more than the goal for a program that came in

averaging 11.8 steals per game, tops in the Big West and No. 2 among

327 NCAA Division I schools.

“We told our kids we wanted their best defensive effort this year,

in terms of diving for loose balls, getting floor burns and getting

deflections,” Braswell said. “And we got all of those. I think mixing

up our defenses caused them some problems.” With Northridge swarming

on defense, UCI’s offense virtually ground to a halt. UCI was forced

to find most of its opportunities on the perimeter, or a rare

penetration to create by Fitzgerald.

Schraeder, who was 4 of 9 from threedom and did not take a

field-goal attempt inside the arc, finished with a team-high 14

points.

Fitzgerald, who was 0 for 4 from three-point range, finished with

12 points. He had a team-worst five turnovers to go with a team-best

four assists.

Freshman Darren Fells, who came off the bench, was the only other

Anteater in double figures with 10 points, all after halftime. Fells

also paced the visitors with six rebounds.

But while Northridge’s defense was living up to its billing, the

Matadors also found success on offense. The hosts shot 53.3% from the

field (24 of 45), their third straight game of shooting better than

50%. Northridge was also 7 of 9 from three-point rage (77.8%) and

made 24 of 33 foul shots.

UCI, meanwhile, was just 13 of 21 from the free-throw line.

“It was a great team effort on both ends of the floor,” Braswell

said. “We spend so much time putting in all or our defenses, early in

the season, our offense sometimes takes a while to get going. I think

we’re starting to play much better, now, offensively.”

The margin of defeat was the third largest of the season for UCI,

which entered the week having won 4 of 5, but dropped both Big West

road games to the conference’s top two teams. UCI fell, 71-61, at

first-place University of the Pacific Thursday.

“We weren’t picked to finish real high in conference [seventh],

and this is a rebuilding year for us,” Douglass said. “We’ve had to

fight and fight for everything we’ve gotten this season. Some nights

we look good and sometimes we don’t. But it’s a resilient bunch and

we’ll bounce back.

“[The Matadors] are a good team and they’re better than us,”

Douglass said. “We would have liked to have played better, but we

didn’t.” Northridge senior Ian Boylan helped the bounces go the

Matadors’ way all evening. He was 8 of 12 from the field, hit all

three of his three-point attempts, and finished with a game-high 25

points. Drawing the defensive assignment of checking Schraeder, he

also had three steals, one of five Matadors with at least two.

“He’s a good player, a first-team all-conference player,” Douglass

said of Boylan. “And what makes him even more dangerous, is that he

is their leading assist man.” Boylan had just two of the hosts’ 14

assists Friday, as senior Davin White took team-high honors with

four, to go with his 13 points off the bench.

White was among five Matadors to connect from three-point range.

The hosts came in shooting just 31.1% from threedom, but were deadly

against UCI.

Northridge continued to build on its halftime lead. Boylan’s final

three-pointer with 5:28 remaining made it 75-50, before the UCI

reserves finished the game on a 10-4 run to cut into the deficit.

Douglass asked for and received a technical foul early in the

second half, but said the infraction had nothing to do with

frustration with his team.

“It wasn’t frustration,” Douglass said. “It was just tired of

seeing the calls that were being made and I wanted [the officials] to

know I didn’t like what I was seeing.”

ZOTS -- With his four three-pointers Saturday, UC Irvine junior

guard Ross Schraeder has 140 for his. He needs two to pass Scott

Brooks (1985-87), who is No. 4 on the Anteaters’ career list. Jeff

Herdman (201 from 1987-91) is No. 1 ... Northridge’s victory Saturday

shaved UCI’s lead in the all-time series to 17-16 ... UCI plays host

to Cal State Fullerton (Thursday) and UC Riverside (Saturday). Both

games are at 7:05 p.m. ...Only two UCI games this season have been

decided by five or fewer points, a two-point home loss to University

of the Pacific and a one-point home win over Idaho ... Coming into

Saturday, UCI junior guard Jeff Gloger had shot 67.4% from the field

(31 of 46) in his previous five games. He was 3 of 7 from the field

against Northridge.

Big West Conference

Cal State Northridge 79, UC Irvine 60

UC Irvine - Campbell 4, Gloger 9, Ethington 2, Schraeder 14,

Fitzgerald 12, Fells 10, Sanders 3, Baker 2, Melelski 2, Bruckner 2.

3-pt. goals - Schraeder 4, Gloger 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - Coach Douglass 1.

Cal State Northridge - Boylan 25, Chitwood 3, Shewmake 5, Heard 5,

Locke 8, White 13, Oneyegetcha 8, Waggener 5, Vance 4, Okwudibonye 3.

3-pt. goals - Boylan 3, White 1, Shewmake 1, Locke 1, Okwudibonye

1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Halftime - Cal State Northridge, 36-23.