COLLEGES:Anteaters enduring the storm

“Life is bare, gloom and misery everywhere

Stormy weather, just can’t get my poor old self together … “

— “Stormy Weather” written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler

Rain followed the UC Irvine men’s basketball team up the central coast last week, where the Anteaters were swept by Big West Conference rivals UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for the first time in three years.

But though the two losses caused Coach Pat Douglass’ team to slip from fourth to sixth in the conference standings, those who witnessed them saw signs of growth that may ultimately help the Anteaters extend their run in the Big West Tournament, March 7-10 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

UCSB Coach Bob Williams may have summed it up best after his team held off a second-half charge by UCI to claim a 71-62 triumph Thursday night.

“Irvine’s record [11-15, 5-7 in conference] is not indicative of how good a team they are,” Williams said. “They beat [conference-leading] Long Beach State at home and they played [Cal State] Fullerton [in second place] twice to death-struggle games. They are a good basketball team and they’re not far away from being a really good basketball team.”

With only two regular-season conference games left, it appears UCI will be hard-pressed to finish in the top four, which would mean a first-round tournament bye.

And, the question remains, is there enough time this season for the Anteaters to make good on Williams’ prediction?

Time will tell, but if the Anteaters could match the offensive production they had Saturday at Cal Poly, they might have a chance to reach the Big West title game for the first time in 10 seasons under Douglass.

UCI shot 50.8% from the field and 48% from three-point range against the Mustangs, who were led by junior guard Dawin Whiten, who drained eight of 11 three-pointers on his way to a career-high 31 points.

Against Santa Barbara, UCI was felled by the Gauchos’ senior guard Cecil Brown, who was eight of 12 from the field, while scoring 21 of his season-high 23 points after halftime.

Williams credited UCI with defending Alex Harris, who came in leading the conference in scoring (20.7 per game), better than anyone else in the conference has this season. Harris scored 14 points, but was three of nine from the field.

Douglass lamented Whiten’s outburst Saturday, pointing out that Whiten was shooting 24.4% from three-point range (10 for 41) against conference opponents before Saturday.

The 5-foot-9 junior center is ranked No. 10 nationally with 10.9 rebounds per game and she leads the Big West with 13 double-doubles.

Duda had 21 rebounds against Cal State Northridge on Feb. 3 and she enters Thursday night’s home game against Cal State Fullerton with 273 boards this season, 16 shy of Leticia Oseguera’s single-season record, set in 1995-96.

Oseguera, the school’s career rebound leader with 969, was just 5-11.

But it still wasn’t enough to earn a victory as the nonconference tie at Loyola Marymount was called with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, due to darkness.

One wonders whether umpires Frank Pflugradt, Rick Padilla and Dan Ignosci needed the cover of darkness to get to their cars safely after halting the game with the winning run 90 feet away.

Junior Aaron Lowenstein has started four of the first six games and was four for five combined, Saturday and Sunday to up his average to .385. He has two RBIs, including the game-winner on a safety squeeze bunt in Friday’s 2-0 win over LMU.

But freshman Francis Larson, who received preseason raves from Serrano, has already gone about living up to them. In two starts and three games, Larson is hitting .444. Sunday, he went four for five with four doubles and five RBIs.