Sat May 17, 2008
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'Eaters Lead Wire-to-Wire, Punch Championship Game TicketMarch 14, 2008
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Senior center Darren Fells had 14 points and nine rebounds while freshman guard Patrick Rembert hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 1:04 to lift UC Irvine past No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara, 55-50, in the Big West Tournament semifinals Friday night at the Anaheim Convention Center. With the victory, UCI advances to the conference tournament championship game for just the third time in history and the first time since 1994. The Anteaters have never won the final, losing 70-64 to New Mexico State in 1994 and 86-79 to Utah State in 1988. Fifth-seeded UCI (18-15) prevailed Friday evening in a defensive struggle with the Gauchos as the Anteaters won for the 10th time in their last 13 games. Fells was 6 of 10 from the field and recorded three steals while Patrick Sanders, the team's leading scorer, had just four points but registered a team-high 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Rembert scored a career-high 12 points, nine in the second half, and senior guard Marcus McIntosh had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Junior forward Kevin Bland recorded eight points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in 16 minutes off the bench. Alex Harris led UCSB (23-8) with 17 points, Ivan Elliott scored nine and Chris Devine had eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds. UCI, which won both regular-season games against UCSB, shot 50 percent from the field in taking a 24-17 halftime lead as the Gauchos shot just 28.9 percent in the opening 20 minutes. The Anteaters led by nine at 37-28 with 10:23 remaining but UCSB cut the margin to one at 46-45 on a basket by Nedim Pajevic with 2:47 left. McIntosh scored on a layup at 2:20 to put UCI up 48-45 and Rembert hit two foul shots at 1:04 giving the Anteaters a 50-45 lead. The Gauchos pulled to within two at 52-50 on a three by James Powell with 28 seconds remaining. UCSB's Paul Roemer fouled Rembert, who hit one of two free throws with 25 seconds left for a three-point UCI lead, and after Harris missed a three-point attempt with four seconds remaining, Elliott fouled Sanders, who hit both foul shots at 3.5 seconds for the final margin. The Anteaters, who out-rebounded UCSB 38-26, committed 23 turnovers. UCI shot 45 percent from the field in the game while the Gauchos shot 31.9 percent. The Anteaters hit 12 of 16 free throws in the second half. UCI plays in the championship game Saturday night at 8:00 at the Anaheim Convention Center against Cal State Fullerton, which defeated Cal State Northridge in Friday's late semifinal. |
