Big West

ANAHEIM - When visiting teams land at the Hawaii airport, they are typically presented with ceremonial leis. But designated host UC Irvine gave the Hawaii men's basketball team some altogether less hospitable treatment Thursday. The No. 4-seeded Anteaters (19-14) used a 17-0 early run to help build a first-half lead the swelled to 23, all but blowing the Rainbow Warriors (17-14) clean off the mainland in their first trip to the Big West Conference Tournament at Honda Center. UCI's 71-62 victory propelled it to Friday's semifinals, when it will meet regular-season conference champion Long Beach State (19-12)

ANAHEIM - Undoubtedly this season, Coach Russell Turner has wondered where his UC Irvine men's basketball team would be without a senior nucleus that has been so vital in so many ways. For most of the No. 4-seeded Anteaters' seesaw struggle with top-seeded Long Beach State in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Tournament on Friday at Honda Center, Turner was faced with that very proposition. With less than seven minutes to play and trailing the 49ers, 49-43, UCI senior guards Daman Starring and Mike Wilder were a combined two for 17 from the field.

The UC Irvine men's basketball team had four players honored by the Big West Conference men's basketball coaches, led by senior guard Daman Starring, who was named second-team All-Big West. Senior post Adam Folker earned the conference's Hustle Award for the second straight season, while sophomore forward Will Davis was named Defensive Player of the Year. UCI point guard Alex Moore shared Freshman of the Year laurels with Hawaii's Isaac Fotu. Starring, a 6-foot-3 guard who enters Thursday's Big West Tournament averaging 13.3 points, had six 20-point outputs for the Anteaters (18-14, 11-7 in conference, good four fourth place)

MEN'S BASKETBALL UC Irvine 88, UC Davis 85 DAVIS - Sophomore Will Davis and senior Mike Wilder both scored 18 points to lead the visiting Anteaters in the Big West Conference game Saturday. The win secures fourth place for UCI (18-14, 11-7 in conference). The Anteaters will face fifth-place Hawaii in the opening round of the Big West Conference Tournament on Thursday at approximately 8:30 p.m. at Honda Center. UCI split with Hawaii, a first-year Big West member, this season.

The UC Irvine men's basketball team's seeding and first-round matchup in the Big West Conference Tournament will be determined by its game Sautrday at UC Davis at 7 p.m. If UCI wins, it would be the No. 4 seed and be the home team against No. 5 Hawaii on Thursday at approximately 8:30 p.m. at Honda Center. If UCI loses, Davis would be the No. 4 seed and meet No. 5-seeded UCI at 8:30 p.m. The tournament winner earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, a first for the 'Eaters.

Darren Fells, a former UC Irvine men's basketball standout who has not played football since high school, was signed to a three-year contract as a tight end by the Seattle Seahawks, according to NFL.com. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound Fells, the story said, worked out for the team on Tuesday. Fells played professional basketball the last year for Libertad Sunchales in Argentina. His pro basketball career also included stops in Mexico,, France, Finland and Belgium. A four-year starter at UCI, he earned second-team All-Big West honors as a senior in 2006-07, when he averaged 14.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in the regular season and led the Big West in field-goal percentage (.566)

UC Irvine senior Kristina Smith has been named Big West Conference Player of the Week in women's tennis. Smith is the third straight Anteater to win the award, following Sarah Gong and Ali Facey. Smith won both singles matches and split at No. 1 doubles with partner Franziska Goettsching as UCI downed LSU, 4-3, on Feb. 11, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 6-1, Sunday. She is 6-3 in singles, including a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win against the LSU rival and a 6-1, 6-0 verdict against Cal Poly.