Irvine Has a Ball in 75-52 Rout of Southern Oregon

Not that a two-game winning streak shouldn’t have UC Irvine’s players feeling a bit giddy, but guard Zamiro Bennem found it hard to contain himself after a 75-52 victory over Southern Oregon on Monday.

“I didn’t even know they were a [NAIA] Division II school until some one yelled it out before we ran on to the floor,” Bennem said. “It didn’t matter. The outcome was going to be the same. It was going to be the same if we were playing UCLA.”

UCLA?

“Well. . . .” Bennem said.

As the 973 people in the Bren Center can attest, this was not UCLA. That was more than apparent nine minutes in, when Southern Oregon (6-6) had almost as many air balls (five) as points (six).

Then again, this wasn’t about victory--that was a given against a team that might have trouble winning a recreation league. This was about effort and perception.

The 23-point victory was the most by Irvine since beating Nevada by 29 on Feb. 12, 1994. The Anteaters have been whooped by 23 or more points 16 times since then, 12 in the last two seasons.

So handling a NAIA Division II team like it was a NAIA Division II team was something to be proud of, a wee bit anyway.

“You always want the appearance of dominance when you play a [NAIA] Division II team,” Coach Pat Douglass said.

That was assured after Bennem scored all eight of his points to get Irvine off to a 10-2 lead. When Jerry Green went around one defender, dipped under three others, and scooped in a layup for a 22-6 lead, there was no looking back.

The Anteaters led by as many as 31 points in the second half.

Green finished with 16 points, making eight of nine shots from the field. A nice follow up to his 22-point game in Irvine’s 82-75 victory over Brigham Young last Tuesday.

“It was time to have a little fun,” Bennem said. “Just a little.”

The Anteaters managed to get in a little work as well, honing their play for Big West Conference, which begins a week from Thursday.

Irvine was 25 of 48 from the field, shooting above 50% for the first time this season. The Anteaters (4-5) had a 32-27 rebound advantage. But it was the fourth time this season they have had an edge in rebounding. All have been victories.