Seniors go down swinging

ANAHEIM — The game ended at about 10 p.m. next to “The Happiest Place on Earth,” but it might as well have been midnight for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team Saturday night at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Anteaters again tried jamming their foot in the glass slipper, but it turned out to belong to a Cal State Fullerton team that topped UCI for the third time this season, 81-66, to end the ’Eaters’ season in the Big West Tournament championship game.

A loss like that is tough to take for a senior like Darren Fells.

One of three senior starters on the team along with Marcus McIntosh and Patrick Sanders, Fells certainly played like a warrior, one who was ready to win his fourth game in four nights and clinch UC Irvine’s first-ever spot in the NCAA Tournament.

He scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the second half, at times seeming capable of willing the ’Eaters to victory.

“I was just trying to play my game and go inside, attack the basket,” said Fells, who had 10 rebounds and made the all-tournament team.

McIntosh, meanwhile, clapped furiously as he came out of the tunnel with his teammates just prior to game time. Then, he made the UCI fans clap too.

It was McIntosh’s jumper from the corner that gave the Anteaters their second, and last, lead of the game early on at 6-5. McIntosh scored seven of UCI’s first 13 points in the first 10-plus minutes of the game.

This, despite being defended for much of the game by Fullerton senior Frank Robinson, the Big West Defensive Player of the Year.

“Marcus McIntosh was a big lift in league play, as far as his defense at the guard position and giving us a little more athleticism,” Coach Pat Douglass said.

But McIntosh was quiet the rest of the way, being held scoreless and missing three shots in the second half before making a layup with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in the game.

The Anteaters have depended on different players to contribute the whole way.

In the tournament semifinal upset of top-seeded UC Santa Barbara Friday, it was freshman Patrick Rembert, who had a career-high 12 points and made five free throws down the stretch of UCI’s 55-50 win.

In Thursday’s 57-56 tournament quarterfinal win over Pacific, it was sophomore Michael Hunter who poured in a team-high 17 points.

It was efforts like these that helped the No. 5 seed, which had nine different starting lineups this year, to the verge of making school history.

“The thing about this team is that everything we tried to do to improve, they were very coachable and accepting,” Douglass said. “[Sanders and Fells] took a lot of responsibility ... As other guys were improving, they just took the bull by the horns and said, ‘Hey, I’ll carry us until we can get everyone to a level that they can play competitive basketball.’ ”

But a second-half comeback attempt Saturday fell on the broad shoulders of Fells, who kept battling. The 6-foot-7 center even showed the range, nailing a three-pointer with 18:02 left to pull UCI within nine, at 39-30.

It was the second to the last time the Anteaters would get within single digits. They at times looked tired in the second half, when the Titans secured six of their eight offensive rebounds.

Sanders, the other senior and the Anteaters’ leading scorer, was held to 11 points on three-of-14 shooting.

“I’m not going to use [fatigue] as an excuse,” Sanders said. “We played hard the whole game.”

But so did Cal State Fullerton. At the end of the game, it was the Titans’ Scott Cutley and Ray Reed swinging their hips near midcourt before the Titans faithful rushed the court. You could say they were dancing.

UCI will have to wait at least one more year to do that.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.