UC Irvine 58, Long Beach State 57--Jerry...

UC Irvine 58, Long Beach State 57--Jerry Green made his only field goal--a 15-foot desperation jumper with four seconds left--to lead the Anteaters to a Big West Conference victory in front of 2,956 spectators at the Pyramid.

Ron Johnson’s driving layup attempt rolled off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Green scored four points, making two free throws to go with his field goal. Irvine’s Sean Jackson led all scorers with 15 points.

Just a game after it grabbed sole possession of first place in the Big West Conference, the front-running Anteaters were nearly brought down to earth.

Irvine (17-2, 9-0), which entered the game as the best free-throw shooting team in the Big West (72.5%) made only six of 17 from the line and committed 17 turnovers, 12 in the first half.

Long Beach fell to 12-10, 5-4.

Pepperdine 76, Portland 60--Picking through the wreckage a day after relinquishing a share of the WCC lead, Pepperdine found enough of value to rout Portland at Malibu.

The Waves recovered their defensive intensity, notching 25 turnovers, including 15 steals.

They unearthed some unselfishness, passing for 11 assists while building a 19-point halftime lead.

And they scared up scorers other than Brandon Armstrong. Five Waves reached double figures.

Portland employed a box-and-one defense on Armstrong, who scored 32 points in a 14-point loss to Gonzaga on Friday and leads the WCC at 21.8 points a game. The junior guard didn’t score until finishing a fastbreak that extended Pepperdine’s lead to 26-13 with 8:50 left in the half.

Armstrong eventually got his points, scoring 17 on an assortment of transition layups, pull-up jumpers and three-pointers.

But it was the 12 points each by Derrick Anderson and Kelvin Gibbs, and the 10 points each by Craig Lewis and David Lalazarian that turned the game into a blowout.

Pepperdine (15-6, 7-1) twice led by 30.

Portland (9-12, 2-6) has lost six in a row.