Anteaters Make the Mistakes That Let Santa Barbara Win : Basketball: Late turnover and failed attempt to score off intentionally missed free throw send UC Irvine to ninth loss in row.

The victory seemed so close that any one of UC Irvine’s players could have reached out and grabbed it as easily as they touch the bottom of the net. But a game that was in Irvine’s hands--another one--wriggled free Saturday night and UC Santa Barbara came from 10 points behind to take a 61-59 victory in front 3,326 at the Bren Center, giving the Anteaters their ninth consecutive loss.

Even after a crucial mistake with a minute left--turning the ball over with a one-point lead when Keith Stewart was called for a 10-second backcourt violation--Irvine still had a chance to send the game to overtime.

With 2.2 seconds left and the Anteaters trailing by three, Irvine’s Gerald McDonald broke open in the corner along the baseline, took a lob pass and tried to get off a three. Ray Kelly fouled him, and after an official’s initial indication that McDonald would shoot two free throws sent Coach Rod Baker into a paroxysm of disbelief, it was ruled McDonald would shoot three.

McDonald, a 73% free-throw shooter who led Irvine with 17 points, missed the first one, stepping back in disgust. He came back to the line and made the second, and Irvine, still trailing by two, took a time out to set up an intentional miss on the final one.

McDonald’s miss was perfect for the purpose, producing a high bound off the rim. Keith Stewart soared to get a hand on the rebound, but his tip was off the mark.

“Gerald shot that right where we wanted it,” Baker said. “Maybe Stew should have just grabbed it and gone to the rim, not tried to tip it. But I’m not sure he had an opportunity to.”

Stewart said he didn’t.

“I was just falling,” he said. “I was excited just to get my hand on the ball.”

It was another Irvine opportunity--another near miss.

Baker, whose team is 3-14 and winless in conference games, came out smiling.

“The reason I’m smiling is because we’re better than we were a month ago,” said Baker, whose team has lost four conference home games by four or fewer points and a total of 12. “This is a long process for us. I think we get a little bit better every day.”

Two seasons ago, an Irvine team that had lost a school-record 15 consecutive games halted its downward spiral against UC Santa Barbara, quieting the Gauchos’ Thunderdome by beating Santa Barbara on its own court.

On Saturday, Irvine threatened to stop its slide against Santa Barbara again. The Anteaters, playing like a team that has found itself, led by 10 points with seven minutes left before Santa Barbara turned up its defense, went on a 13-2 run, and then made the plays it needed to. Irvine didn’t.

Stewart got off a shot on Irvine’s other possession in the final minute, but missed.

“I thought he was fouled,” Baker said.

Kelly and Idris Jones each sank two free throws in the final minute to help Santa Barbara win.

“Boy, I tell you, for most of the game I thought Irvine outplayed us,” Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm said. “We finally stepped up our defense, got a couple of stops and then pushed it up for quick baskets. That happens sometimes to a team that’s been losing. They play so long above their heads, that at the end they play to keep from losing instead of to win. They just need a couple of wins to get them over the hump.”

Irvine’s players understood what he meant.

“That game was ours. Fullerton was ours, Long Beach was ours,” Jeff Von Lutzow said. “All those games we should have won. I believe in the other teams’ minds, they left our gym believing they were lucky.”

Said Elgin Rogers: “There comes a time when the opponent is digging down and you have to dig down that much harder.”

Baker has been concerned that one day his players would stop wanting to dig, the way it’s been going.

“This group, I’m positive, thinks if we played tomorrow, we would win,” he said. “I am frightened of the day when I walk into the gym and they don’t seem the same way. It hasn’t happened.”

Santa Barbara, led by Lucius Davis’ 19 points, is 12-4, 6-2 in conference.