Anteater Season Ends With Loss to Pacific : Big West: UC Irvine takes early lead, but second-half scoring lulls result in 81-69 setback in tournament semifinal.

LONG BEACH —  The NCAA basketball tournament will have to find itself another No. 64 team. UC Irvine, a 6-21 regular-season team, turned their fans half-giddy with an upset of top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament Friday.

But an 81-69 loss to Pacific in a semifinal game Saturday decreed that it is time for the fraternity crowd to fold up its “We want Duke,” banner and go home.

Pacific, trailing by three at halftime, made seven three-pointers in the second half and used a 16-0 run midway through the half to take a 15-point lead with six minutes left.

Pacific (14-15), which hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1979, plays New Mexico State at 12:30 p.m. today for the Big West title and an automatic tournament bid.

Irvine has never appeared in the NCAA tournament. The Anteaters’ “I think we can,” T-shirts, made especially for the Big West tournament, have ended their run. As it turned out, Irvine--The Little Irvine That Could--couldn’t quite.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “They surpassed everyone else’s expectations and never reached their own.”

Baker, in his first season at the school, guided Irvine to a 7-22 record after losing the three leading scorers from a team that won 11 games last year.

Irvine played its best half of the season against Santa Barbara, shooting 68% and holding the Gauchos to 36% in the final 20 minutes of that game. The Anteaters extended that level of play, taking a 19-6 lead over Pacific in the first six minutes of Saturday’s game, played before 3,373 at Long Beach Arena. Two steals by senior point guard Gerald McDonald--including one where he tipped a ball and then dived headlong onto the floor in the backcourt to pass to David Hollaway--helped spark Irvine to that lead.

“When we had a 13-point lead, there were 35 minutes left to play,” Baker said. “If anything, I think Pacific thought, ‘Beautiful, we’re down by 13, but there are 35 minutes left to play. We can get this back easily.’ ”

Pacific did, taking advantage of some Irvine scoring lulls--there was a four-minute stretch without an Anteater point--to lead at halftime, 35-32. Irvine had held one of the top 15 three-point shooting teams in the nation without a three-pointer.

“At halftime, they were five for 10 in three-pointers and we were 0 for 4,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said. “I thought we had the wrong uniforms on.”

Pacific rectified that at the start of the second half. Tony Amundsen, who finished with 17 points, made three three-pointers in the first 3 minutes 35 seconds of the second half, and Pacific was ahead, 45-39.

“To our dismay, Tony Amundsen comes out and just starts knocking ‘em down like there’s no tomorrow,” Baker said.

With the Tiger guards penetrating, Pacific started getting open for three-point shots. Dell Demps, held to eight points in the first half, finished with 24, including three three-pointers--all three of them during the crucial 16-0 run.

“The first half, I think we were a little out of sync,” Demps said. “They had a lot of momentum. We knew they were really hyped up. We waited for them to get over their first little run, and then we settled in.”

Irvine, meanwhile, went cold, particularly as its increasing desperation led to more three-point attempts, and shot 35.5% in the second half. Pacific shot 58.3% in the game.

Irvine got no closer than seven points in the final four minutes. A steal that would have given the Anteaters a chance to cut the lead to five was nullified when Keith Stewart was called for a foul with 3:32 left as three players converged on Walsh Jordan on the press.

McDonald led Irvine with 15 points, but Baker played him 39 minutes, and McDonald’s fatigued showed on defense. Irvine’s other scorers also struggled as the game went on. Jeff Von Lutzow scored 14 points, but made only four of 11 shots, and two of six three-pointers. Stewart finished with 10 points, but made only four of 15 shots, and two of eight from three-point range.

“The Santa Barbara win was just us playing at our best,” McDonald said. “Just like tonight, UOP was at their best.”

It was the final game for four Irvine seniors--McDonald, Hollaway, Don May and Elgin Rogers--and it marked the end of Baker’s first season.

“It’s difficult for me to evaluate,” Baker said. “I have nothing to compare it to. . . . But I’ll tell you, I think I got everything I asked for. I don’t know if you could ask for any more. We asked them to dive on the floor, they were diving on the floor. We asked them to run, they ran. We asked them to lift, they lifted.”

Irvine’s players were disappointed, but they finished with some satisfaction.

“I think it came out well,” McDonald said. “Everybody stuck together through the whole thing, and showed this was a pretty good team. I see it as a team that came down to the end of the season and was playing its best.”

Craig Marshall is one of four starters who will return next season.

“Of course we’re sad and everything,” he said. “We did what we could. They were just a better team tonight.”

* MIKE PENNER

UC Irvine saw what could be and what needed to be done in order to get there. C5