Hatten, 49ers Top UCI, 75-70 : Center Scores 37; Long Beach Holds Off Anteaters’ Rally

John Hatten had a chance for a lot more points but settled for a career-high 37 as he led Cal State Long Beach to a 75-70 victory over UC Irvine Saturday night in a Big West Conference game before 1,900 in the 49ers’ gym.

“He should have had more,” Long Beach Coach Joe Harrington said.

Hatten, who has averaged 18 points in his past 9 games but only 14 on the season, missed his first 4 shots and had another streak of 3 misses in the first half. In all, the left-handed senior center made 17 of 31 shots.

Told recently by Harrington to take over and be more of a scorer, Hatten said he was overanxious at the beginning.

“Coach said to relax,” Hatten said. “I knew they were easy shots; it just took time for them to drop.”

For a while, it seemed like they all dropped--baseline jumpers, turnarounds in the lane, inside banks and lay-ins after grabbing rebounds. By halftime, Hatten had scored 23 points and his 20 field goal attempts were only 4 less than Irvine’s total.

In the second half, after the Anteaters had taken a 49-48 lead on 6 consecutive points by Jeff Herdman, the 49ers went on a 12-4 run with Hatten scoring 10 of those points.

“I thought Hatten had a great game,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. “We tried to play him different ways.”

But if Hatten was the night’s top hero, reserve Rudy Harvey was a close second.

“I didn’t realize Rudy Harvey would get 16 points,” Mulligan said.

Harvey did on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line. After stealing the ball, he made a driving dunk to extend the lead to 62-53. After Irvine had pulled to within 62-59, he made a 3-point play. And when his pair of free throws with 4:47 to go increased the lead to 69-61, it looked like Long Beach was home free.

But following a 3-point play by Ricky Butler on a power move over Hatten, another inside basket by Butler and a baseline jumper by Kevin Floyd, the 49ers’ lead was down to 69-68 with 46 seconds left.

“I never felt confident because they are a very good shooting team,” Harrington said.

With 36 seconds left, Butler fouled Jeff Eastin. It was Butler’s fifth foul, and he left with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Eastin made both ends of a one-and-one for a 71-68 lead.

“I was hoping the guy would foul me,” said Eastin, the 49ers’ top free throw shooter who was eager to redeem himself after missing a crucial foul shot in a 53-52 loss to UC Santa Barbara Thursday night.

After a timeout, Floyd missed a one-hander, Eastin rebounded and threw to Bobby Sears for a layup that sealed Long Beach’s victory.

“Herdman was wide open on the side for a 3-pointer,” Mulligan said. “Floyd knew it and feels bad about it.”

The victory enabled the 49ers to stay in fourth place in the Big West. They are 8-10 overall and 5-4 in conference play.

Irvine (6-11, 3-5) has dropped to 1-8 on the road.

Center Mike Doktorczyk, despite not being able to handle Hatten, scored 20 points, and Floyd added 15.