Randy Youngman is a former page 2 columnist with the Orange County Register

March 11 - Thomason Looks to Go Out with Championship

ANAHEIM – If it felt as if time stood still for retiring Pacific coach Bob Thomason on Thursday, it’s only because it did.

Thomason, the winningest coach in Big West history, had to endure what he acknowledged was the longest 9.4 seconds of his career before he found out he would get to coach another day.

Because of a video review by the officials, it took nearly 10 minutes to play the final seconds in No. 2 seed Pacific’s 71-68 victory over No. 7 seed UC Santa Barbara in Thursday’s first quarterfinal of the Big West Men’s Basketball Tournament at Honda Center.

“I’ve been coaching a long time, and I’ve never seen a finish like that,” said a relieved Thomason, who is determined to delay the end of his 25th and final season at Pacific as long as he can.

What made this a one-of-a-kind finish was the game officials' courtside review of instant replay.

With Pacific leading by a point following a UCSB dunk with 12 seconds left, the unexpected drama came after Santa Barbara guard Kyle Boswell intentionally fouled Pacific’s Lorenzo McCloud near the sideline to stop the clock.

It appeared that Pacific was in control as both teams headed to the other end of the court, because McCloud is an 80 percent free-throw shooter.

But as McCloud was stepping into position to shoot at the line, the officials called time so they could examine TV footage of what the UCSB coaching staff thought was a retaliatory elbow by McCloud immediately after Boswell had fouled him.

Unfortunately, it took what seemed like an eternity for the refs to decide that McCloud’s backward right-arm thrust had made contact with Boswell’s head and warranted a dead-ball technical foul. That meant that after McCloud shot his free throws, Santa Barbara would get to shoot two technical free throws and get the ball out of bounds.

No one in the arena could have predicted what happened next, with the clock frozen at 00:09.4.

First, McCloud missed both free throws.

Then, at the other end, Boswell – a 77 percent free-throw shooter and UCSB head coach Bob Williams’ choice as shooter – missed both of his free throws.

“Pressure is a weird animal, and you saw two very good free-throw shooters both miss pressure free throws,” Williams said afterward. “It was definitely an opportunity when McCloud missed two, and we had a great opportunity to get ahead and they would have (had) to foul us and we could ice this thing.”

 

On the ensuing possession, the Gauchos still had another chance to take the lead, but Michael Bryson – the game’s leading scorer with 29 points, including 7 three-pointers -- missed his last shot from beyond the arc.

The Gauchos had to foul again, and this time Colin Beatty swished both free throws for the margin of victory.

Though he lived to coach another day, Thomason wasn’t exactly overjoyed by what happened when the clock was frozen with 9.4 seconds left.

 

“I understand about protecting people from elbows, people swinging elbows, knocking teeth out,” Thomason said. “But the essence is you’re trying to dribble and the guy is fouling you hard and your hand goes up. There was no essence of trying to hurt somebody.”

 

To change the rule, that will have to be a battle for others to wage because Thomason is calling it a career after his next loss.  The later, the better, of course.
 

Next obstacle in his path is No. 3 seed Cal Poly, which advanced to the semifinals with a 64-41 rout of No. 6 seed UC Davis in Thursday’s second quarterfinal.

 

Long Beach tested: The mismatch that was supposed to be did not materialize.
 

Despite being undermanned, outsized and decimated by injuries, No. 8 seed Cal State Fullerton gave top-seeded Long Beach State all it could handle before the Big West regular-season champion 49ers posted a 75-66 victory.
 

With 6:27 left in the game, the Titans pulled within 60-56 on a field goal by Alex Harris, a walk-on who contributed 19 points, four assists and five rebounds in playing all 40 minutes.
 

The 49ers eventually pulled away in the final minute, when CSF seniors Kwame Vaughn (19 points) and Jordan Knox (12 points) fouled out, to advance to the postseason tournament semifinals for the fifth consecutive year.
 

Long Beach State (19-12), which meets No. 4 seed UC Irvine in Friday night’s first semifinal, also is one win away from its fourth consecutive championship game appearance in Anaheim.
 

“It was a grind for us all game,” Dan Monson, the Big West Coach of the Year, said afterward, “but you have to give a ton of credit to Fullerton for the way they played.”
 

Unlike a year ago when they cruised to the Big West regular-season and tournament championships, the 49ers played a lot of close games in winning their third consecutive regular-season conference title outright. In that respect, their tournament opener wasn’t a surprise.
 

“We’re not good enough to look past anybody,” Monson said.
 

James Ennis, the Big West Player of the Year, led a balanced Long Beach attack with 15 points. He jammed his right index finger and lost part of his fingernail on a dunk attempt but continued to play after the finger was taped.
 

The Titans (14-18) closed out a disappointing season with five consecutive losses, after losing two of their three leading scorers – D.J. Seeley and Sammy Yeager – to injuries. Earlier, they lost four post players to injuries.
 

“I’m really proud of our guys. They fought really hard, being undermanned the whole year,” said interim CSF coach Andy Newman. “I’ll remember these guys forever – their toughness and their heart was incredible. . . . They over-achieved every night.”
 

Newman’s future is in doubt, and it’s a shame he was not able to coach the Titans at full strength. They had to finish the season with four scholarship players and three walk-ons.

 

Anteaters impressive: Is UC Irvine going to be the team that ends Long Beach State’s tournament dominance over the past several years?
 

It certainly could happen if the Anteaters (19-14) play as well as they did in the first half of their 71-60 victory over No. 5 seed Hawai'i in Thursday night’s last quarterfinal.
 

UCI rocketed to a 22-5 lead in the game’s opening nine minutes, enjoyed a 44-22 advantage at halftime and weathered an early second-half surge by the Rainbow Warriors (17-14).
 

“We set the tone with our defensive intensity,” said UCI coach Russell Turner.
 

The Anteaters, who have won seven of their past eight games, had six players in double figures, including senior swingman Michael Wilder, who contributed 12 points and team-high totals of 10 rebounds and four assists.
 

“Every time they made a run, we had an answer for it,” Wilder said.
 

Wilder also credited the fan support for inspiring his team and said he expects an even bigger turnout for Friday night’s semifinal.

 

Streaking Mustangs: Third-seeded Cal Poly (18-12) continued its late-season run by turning a one-point halftime lead into 64-41 runaway over UC Davis (14-17), extending the Mustangs’ winning streak to six.
 

“I felt great about our second-half performance because the lid came off the offense and we flowed,” said Cal Poly coach Joe Callero. “But what I’m most proud about for the game is our defense and how we sustained our defensive pressure.”
 

UC Davis led the Big West in field goal percentage (.476) during the regular season, but Cal Poly held the Aggies to 28 percent shooting in the first half and 41 percent for the game. Cal Poly also held Big West scoring champion Corey Hawkins to six points, 15 below his season average.
 

Hawkins was 2 for 9 from the field before being helped off the court after spraining an ankle in the second half.
 

“I think Corey drew a lot of attention tonight, and he had two, sometimes three guys running at him when he caught the ball,” UC Davis coach Jim Les said afterward.
 

“He was doing what we wanted him to do and that’s trust his teammates and make the next pass. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t make them pay as much for playing that way.”

 

Layup line: Pacific led by 15 points at halftime on the strength of converting 8 of 10 three-point attempts, but UCSB turned the tables and caught up in the second half by making 10 of its first 15 treys after the intermission. The Gauchos, however, missed their final five shots from beyond the arc . .  . It is the first time since 2010 that the top four seeds are in the semifinals. . . . . It was the first time in three years that the No. 2 seed held off the No. 7 seed in the first round . . . . Semifinal matchups: During the regular season, Long Beach State and UCI split their two games, as did Cal Poly and Pacific.  . . . Referee Milton Stowe, who worked the first game, is retiring after a 30-year career . . . . Attendance was announced at 3,942.


 

Randy Youngman is a former page 2 columnist with the Orange County Register

March 12 - Tigers Live to See Another Day
March 11 - Thomason Looks to Go Out with Championship

ANAHEIM – Sometimes, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Sometimes, it is more about desire, determination, inspiration and heart.

How else do you explain a 9-21 Cal State Fullerton basketball team that squeaked into the postseason tournament as the No. 8 seed suddenly riding an emotional wave all the way to the Big West Women’s Tournament semifinals?

How else do you explain a team with no players who achieved all-conference recognition – not even honorable mention – recording upsets on back-to-back nights to earn a shot against top-seeded Pacific on Saturday afternoon at Honda Center?

Playing with emotion and passion in the memory of beloved CSF assistant coach Monica Quan, who was murdered outside her Irvine condo last month, has been very powerful for Marcia Foster’s Titans.

And somehow they channeled their grief into motivation – or “MOtivation,” as the wording on the front of their orange warm-up jerseys proclaims.

“Coach Mo,” that’s what they called Quan, and one of Winston Churchill’s quotes was etched in cursive lettering on the back of their warmups: “It is the courage to continue that counts.” Yes, it is how you handle despair that counts most.

And the Titans banded together with a purpose when postseason play began, first knocking off No. 5 seed Long Beach State and then No. 3 seed Hawaii, during the first two rounds at UCI’s Bren Center.

“The depth of sorrow that existed initially, especially the week after (and) the first two weeks after the tragedy with Monica, was so heavy,” Foster, the fourth-year Titans coach, said earlier this week. “It was just hard to function. The first week, I don’t know if many players went to class or anything.

“There’s going to be stuff that happens in your life and you have to keep moving forward. You don’t get to stop. You can stop for a second and grieve, and that’s what we did. And then we’ve just had so much (emotional) support, I think they relied heavily on one another. We’ve just stayed together. We’ve just bonded. There’s not a better way to honor Monica than to play our best basketball.”

And that’s what the Titans did this week. But how long could it last? Could the improbable happen again, against Pacific, the best team in the conference?

Fullerton quickly fell behind by 10 points, 14-4, in the first six minutes Saturday, so you wondered if the emotional well had run dry. They also missed 15 of their first 20 field-goal attempts. But they still didn’t quit and somehow pulled within four points at halftime.

Pacific noticed something was different.

“It felt like we played a completely different Fullerton team,” Pacific forward Kendall Rodriguez said afterward, alluding to 31- and 12-point wins over the Titans during the regular season. “They played with a lot of heart and motivation.”

And, of course, these Titans were a completely different team, a team unified and motivated by grief, one that battled valiantly to stay with the Big West champions the rest of the game. They tied it twice in the second half but fell behind by seven points, 46-39, with 5:40 left. But they rallied again, pulling within one point on a basket by Kathleen Iwuoha (season-high 15 points).

Time, however, appeared to be running out in this compelling Cinderella story when Pacific made two free throws for a 51-46 lead with 55.9 seconds left.

“C’mon, ladies! I believe!” a fan in the CSF cheering section at center court yelled during the ensuing timeout.

Apparently, the Titans did, too. It was desperation time, so Hailey King and Mya Olivier attempted back-to-back 3-pointers that both missed. But Annie Park, a 5-4 freshman guard, somehow corralled the ball after the second miss and popped in a jumper to make it 51-48 with 29 seconds left.

Pacific coach Lynne Roberts calmly called a timeout.

“We talked about how there were 29 seconds left. We talked about how they’re going to have to foul and how we’ve got to be strong with the ball and not turn it over,” Roberts said.

So what happened? Fullerton double-teamed the ball in the corner, forced a turnover, and Titans guard Tailer Butler found Olivier alone at the top of the key.

Swish! Olivier’s 3-pointer tied the score at 51 with 0:16 left as the Fullerton cheering section erupted.
Was it going to happen again?

Not this time. Without calling a timeout, Pacific moved the ball downcourt and got the ball to Erica McKenzie, who answered with a 3-pointer for a 54-51 lead.

Timeout: 5.9 seconds left. The Titans needed a 3-pointer to force overtime, but sophomore guard Chante Miles sprinted upcourt and missed a runner in the lane just before time expired.

“We tried to get Chante on the run and get a quick 3 up, but we kind of got lost in the moment,” Foster said. “We didn’t get the shot we were looking for.”

Fullerton’s improbable run finally ended, and Pacific (25-6) advanced to Saturday’s 1 p.m. Big West title game to face Cal Poly (20-10), a 62-43 winner over UC Santa Barbara in Saturday’s other semifinal.

“I know how disappointed we are, because we wanted to be that team of destiny and Cinderella,” Foster said.

She paused, apparently changing her mind in mid-thought.

“And we were that team of destiny,” she said. “To be here today after the year we have had, we are that team. . . . I am so proud of this team.”

Somewhere, Coach Mo has to be proud, too.
 
UCI men in final: For the fourth time in school history, the UC Irvine Anteaters are one victory away from qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

UCI, the No. 4 seed, rallied from a six-point deficit in the final seven minutes to knock off top-seeded Long Beach State, 67-60, in Friday night’s first men’s semifinal at Honda Center.

The Anteaters (20-14) will meet No. 2 seed Pacific (21-12) in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. title game (ESPN2) after Pacific earned its berth in the final with a last-second, 55-53 triumph over Cal Poly in the other semifinal.

And that means UCI is 40 minutes from making school history.

Does UCI coach Russell Turner want his players to think about how close they are to achieving their ultimate goal, or would he prefer they not think about it?

Turner paused before answering.

“I don’t know,” he finally said. “I believe in my guys. . . . They all know (what’s at stake) and all the people will be asking them about it. That’s great. It’s college basketball; it’s March Madness. We’ll take our shot. . . . I’m excited for the opportunity that we have (Saturday).”

Senior guard Daman Starring, who made up for his shooting struggles (2 for 11) against Long Beach with his passing down the stretch (team-high seven assists), echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“It’s a huge opportunity for us, and we’re looking forward to it,” Starring said, smiling.

Long Beach State (19-13), the Big West regular-season champion for the past three years, had a seven-point lead, 43-36, when Big West Player of the Year James Ennis picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench with 14:19 left in the second half.

It took a while for UCI to take advantage of Ennis’ absence, but two huge 3-pointers – by Travis Souza from the corner and by Michael Wilder from the top of the circle – pulled the Anteaters within 51-49 with 5:05 left. Starring set up both treys with crisp crosscourt passes from Starring.

After Ennis returned to the court, he missed a 3-pointer before fouling out with 1:08 left, with Long Beach down by four points. UCI freshman Alex Young (game-high 18 points) made both free throws for a six-point lead, and the 49ers never got closer than three points after that.

“We got a 51-46 lead, but we came up empty (on a few possessions) and couldn’t break the game open,” said Long Beach State’s Dan Monson, the Big West Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season. “A huge key was James getting a fourth foul. He probably wanted it so much that he got a little out of control. But I don’t fault a guy for fouling out trying to live his dream.”

Ennis, however, was depressed after the loss, even though he knows his team will get an NIT berth based on their regular-season championship.

“I’m down on myself a little bit because I let my teammates down,” said Ennis, who scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. “I’m a senior. I’m supposed to help my teammates (more) in this game. I felt like I didn’t do my job.”

Instead, it was the Anteaters who prevailed, ultimately because of their characteristically stifling defense – led once again by shot-blocking specialist Will Davis II, the Big West Defensive Player of the Year. On this night, he contributed 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

“They had the (Big West) Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, but tonight we had the better team,” Turner said. Perfectly stated.
 
Thomason survives: Retiring Pacific coach Bob Thomason looked awfully calm in the closing minutes for someone whose coaching career almost came to an end in Friday night’s late semifinal.

But his Tigers guaranteed that he will coach at least one more game when Travis Fulton rebounded a missed shot and scored on a put-back with 1.3 seconds left to give Pacific a 55-53 victory over No. 3 seed Cal Poly.

“They want to keep me working right now,” said Thomason, the winningest coach in Big West history in his 25th and final season at Pacific.

Pacific will meet UCI for the tournament championship. Each team won at home during their season series: The Anteaters prevailed, 68-59, at the Bren Center on Feb. 20; the Tigers won, 70-62, in Stockton on March 7.

At least Thomason won’t have to coach against his longtime friend and former UOP teammate, Pat Douglass, Turner’s predecessor at UCI.

Which team does Thomason think Douglass will be pulling for Saturday night?

“I think he’ll be happy for me if we win,” Thomason said, adding that he talked to Douglass this week and noted that he was inducted in the California Community Colleges Men’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame on Friday during the CCCAA State Tournament in Sacramento.

“I probably would have been there if we had lost Thursday,” Thomason said.

But his last basketball team is keeping him occupied.
 
Layup line: This will be UCI’s fourth appearance in the conference title game. In their previous three, they lost to Utah State in 1988 at The Forum in Inglewood, lost to New Mexico State in 1994 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and lost to Cal State Fullerton in 2008 at the Anaheim Convention Center . . . The Anteaters are now 11-0 this season in games in which they held their opponents to 60 or fewer points . . . The Cal State Fullerton women’s team is one of four finalists for the WBCA’s “Together We R” award, which honors programs that have strived to succeed in the face of adversity, overcoming extraordinary circumstances such as an unforeseen team crisis. . . . Saturday’s attendance was announced at 5,136.