IRVINE — The new school on the Southern California block delivered a resounding shot Saturday on the team that’s been one of the most successful programs in the region for several years.
Cal Baptist, playing its second season in Division I, beat UC Irvine at the Bren Center, 68-60, arguably one of the biggest wins since the Lancers made the leap to the top division in college basketball.
Milan Acquaah scored 26 points on 11-for-20 shooting and added seven rebounds, Ferron Flavors Jr. added 12 points, Brandon Boyd had 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Glenn Morison, an import from Australia, had a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds).
The Anteaters received solid efforts from their big men, Collin Welp scoring 15 points with 11 rebounds and five assists, Brad Greene adding his own 10-and-10 double-double, and Tommy Rutherford scoring 12 points.
But UCI was horrible from the outside. Evan Leonard, who scored his 1,000th career point in the loss, scored 15 points but was 6 for 15 from the field, and the other five shooters who played were a combined 3 for 26. Senior Eyassu Worku, UCI’s second-leading scorer coming into the game, was 0 for 7 from the field and 0 for 4 from the free-throw line.
CBU celebrated on the court after posting back-to-back wins against hometown rival UC Riverside and a UCI team that won 31 games last season, including a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
“We beat New Mexico State last year, their only conference loss, which was big, and this was our best road win ever,” CBU coach Rick Croy said after the game. The Lancers are members of the Western Athletic Conference, which has been dominated by New Mexico State for half a decade.
“I have tremendous respect for UC Irvine. They’ve been the standard of success in Southern California, so it’s a big win for us.”
CBU improved to 5-4, with losses on the road to Texas and Cal. UCI is now 5-5, and this was the Anteaters’ first loss at home. They’ve been very efficient at home, too, with a 77-19 record at Bren the past seven years before Saturday night.
“They were the tougher team and competed at a higher level than we did,” UCI coach Russ Turner said. “We’re a long way from where we were last year. So far, this squad has been inefficient and shown a lack of competitive spirit.
“When things are going well, we’re good, but when things have gotten difficult, they haven’t shown much. I still have expectations for that this season, but we have to show more than we have. Right now we’re a middle-of-the-pack team.”
UCI has four senior starters, but the outside shooting was off all night. Only the inside work of the big men, especially Welp, who has a good perimeter shot, kept them in the game. Four freshmen, also are part of the rotation, including Ron Artest, a smaller version of his father, Metta World Peace.
Rutherford and Leonard hit early 3-pointers to take a 10-3 lead, but CBU shot 46 percent in the first half, led by Acquaah’s 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting. The Lancers caught the Anteaters at 21 and then outscored them 18-12 to take a 39-33 lead by halftime.
The Anteaters stayed close until midway through the second half, when CBU stretched its lead to 12. UCI then pivoted with a 10-1 run, the big guys scoring eight of the 10 points, and got within three at 60-57.
UCI then missed five consecutive shots, and CBU built its lead back to nine with two minutes left. UCI also missed seven consecutive free throws in the final five minutes.
UCI finished the night shooting 35 percent from the field (23 for 65), including a 3-for-22 mark from 3-point range, and 11 for 20 from the free-throw line. UCI was outrebounded 43-35.
CBU won 16 games last season in its first season as a Division I team, the most any NCAA team has won in its first Division I season. The Lancers started four players who have transferred into the program.
Acquaah played at Washington State and Boyd, who won a CIF State title at Alemany High, is a graduate transfer from Idaho State.
“It’s a very cliché thing to say, but we want to be better the whole way this season, be better in January than we are in December,” Croy said. “We have some experienced players, but we aren’t experienced yet playing together.”
They made their case for that Saturday night.
UCI hosts Pacific Union, an NAIA program from Napa Valley, next Saturday, then has four of its next five games on the road, including a two-day tournament in El Paso, a date against Illinois-Chicago and a trip to Harvard.
CBU plays its next six games at home, starting with Bethune-Cookman on Saturday and ending with a WAC game against New Mexico State.
Evan Leonard hit a major career milestone tonight surpassing 1000 career points. @uciwbb's Tahlia Garza checked in with him about the major accomplishment after tonight's game⬇️ pic.twitter.com/hNVDF5qINw
— UCI Men's Basketball (@UCImbb) December 8, 2019
