COLLEGES:

It was a cheerful bus ride home Saturday night for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team, which rallied to defeat UC Santa Barbara at the Thunderdome to split its annual Central Coast Big West Conference road trip that began with a one-point loss at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Thursday night.

The Anteaters (10-13, 5-5 in confernce) left behind more than an impression at UCSB, where two hustle plays that left skin on the Thunderdome floor were emblematic of the type of effort that Coach Pat Douglass’ squad has been giving throughout a tumultuous season in which the ‘Eaters have lost key personnel and received disappointing production from others.

The aforementioned sequence begins just after halftime. With UCSB inbounding from its own baseline, a pass was lofted over the head of UCSB guard Alex Harris, who was about 10 feet beyond the nearest defender. As the ball bounced into the backcourt, Harris casually pursued it, turning his back to the rest of the players on the court.

UCI senior Marcus McIntosh, a 6-foot-2 dose of human Red Bull who by sheer will has transformed himself from an afterthought into a valuable senior leader for the Anteaters this season, just then bolted toward the ball himself.

By the time Harris realized McIntosh would beat him to the ball about 10 feet past midcourt, all he could do was foul McIntosh to avoid an embarrassing breakaway layup.

McIntosh later cashed in the possession with an athletic baseline layin. And though UCSB answered to take a 10-point lead in the coming moments, McIntosh’s refusal to give up on any play had planted the seeds of what became UCI’s biggest win of the season.

The second of the two extreme efforts came near the end of the game, after a free throw by freshman Kevin Rembert put the visitors up, 64-59, with 36 seconds remaining.

After UCSB inbounded, a scramble ensued as the ball came loose near midcourt, headed for the sideline just in front of the UCI bench. With UCSB forward Nedim Pajevic in position to claim possession, UCI senior center Darren Fells dived 10 feet toward the sideline, to actually make contact with the ball first, before it trickled out of bounds. Fells, who earned a similar floor burn fighting for possession of a long rebound that led to Cal Poly’s winning free throws in the final seconds Thursday, slid under Pajevic, a Newport Harbor High product who toppled backward, with a grimace of frustration.

UCSB retained possession, but UCI, and Fells, impressively, retained their single-minded drive to consume every loose ball, to the very end of what turned out to be a 65-59 win.

?Fells and fellow senior Patrick Sanders, join McIntosh and junior guard Matt Lauer at the forefront of those giving relentless effort.

Freshmen guards Michael Hunter and Patrick Rembert have shown flashes of brilliance, while sophomore Chad DeCasas appears to be on the fringe of providing consistent, though modest offensive production.

Junior Kevin Bland, however, continues to withdraw at the offensive end, while maintaining a propensity for fouls as a defender. Though he is averaging 5.9 rebounds, behind only Fells’ 6.4, and a team-high 1.7 steals, he has failed to score in double figures since the conference opener at Cal State Fullerton.

After he tallied 11 points against the Titans, he has scored only 37 points in nine games for an average of 4.1. During that stretch, which includes six starts, he is 16 of 38 from the field (42%).

This from a guy who was the Northern California Community College Player of the Year in 1005-06 at San Joaquin Delta in Stockton. In his final JC season, he scored 579 points in 25 games (an average of 22.3). He also averaged 9.5 rebounds.

The 6-foot-8, 235-pounder, has 148 points in 23 games, after redshirting in 2006-07.

?Douglass will attempt to become the school’s alltime career victories leader, a distinction he already holds at Cal State Bakersfield (257-61 in 10 seasons at the school he guided to three NCAA Division II titles) and Eastern Montana (119-58 in six seasons), when the Anteaters play host to Pacific Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.

A win over Pacific (17-6, 8-2, tied for first with Cal State Fullerton) would make breaking the record extra memorable, since Pacific is Douglass’ alma mater and he is best friends with UOP Coach Bob Thomasson, with whom he played for the Tigers.

Douglass, in his 11th season at UCI, is 161-151.

Bill Mulligan was 163-153 in 11 seasons with the Anteaters from 1980-91.

?Sanders, who has scored in double figures in his last 14 games and ranks sixth in the Big West at 15.3 points per game, needs 26 points to reach 1,000 for his career.

?The UCI men’s volleyball team (8-6, 5-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) plays host to No. 1 BYU (9-0, 4-0) in back-to-back MPSF matches Friday and Saturday. Both start at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.

?The Orange Coast College baseball team (7-2-1) is off to a hot start, but sophomore pitcher Brandon Dixon, is nothing less than scalding so far.

Dixon, a left-hander who played at Tustin High before transferring from Cypress College, has not allowed an earned run in 15 1/3 innings this season. He has allowed just five hits — he took a no-hitter into the ninth last week against Grossmont — with 17 strikeouts and just four walks. Opponents are hitting .102 against him.

Freshman closer Brett Wallach, who starts at shortstop for the Pirates, has 12 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, in which he has allowed five hits, but no earned runs. He has five saves.

Offensively, freshman Drew Hillman (.438 in 32 at-bats with eight RBIs) and sophomore Cory Olson (.421 in 38 at-bats with one home run and 10 RBIs) are leading the way for Coach John Altobelli.

OCC plays host to College of the Canyons today at 2 p.m.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.