Like March Magic, Anteaters Regain Postseason Form : Colleges: UCI upsets Utah State, 76-72, rekindling memories of last year’s fairy-tale run.

LAS VEGAS —  Long Beach State Coach Seth Greenberg plopped into a courtside chair on press row about five minutes into the second half of the UC Irvine-Utah State game Friday night and looked up at the scoreboard, which displayed: Irvine 49, Utah State 37.

“Must be March,” he said, smiling.

Last March, the 10th-seeded Anteaters won three consecutive Big West tournament games--just one fewer than they had won in the entire regular season--before losing in the championship game. This week, they’re trying to recapture that magic and take it one giant step beyond after another less- than-scintillating 6-12 trip through the regular-conference season.

Irvine hung on to beat the top-seeded Aggies, 76-72, in the quarterfinals Friday night, but it was no walk in the Thomas & Mack Center. Khalid Channell made four free throws in the final 27 seconds and Utah State guard Corwin Woodard was called for traveling and missed a desperation 30-footer in final five seconds.

The Anteaters (13-15) meet Nevada at 8 tonight in the semifinals.

“That was the best we’ve defended in three years,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said, “and as each minute went by, we got more confidence in our ability to defend. And even when our advantage started to slip away, we felt like we were in control.”

Once again, it was point guard Raimonds Miglinieks who was in control. He finished with 13 points and 12 assists and a list of intangibles that mean the difference between winning and losing.

“He’s an NBA player,” Utah State Coach Larry Eustachy said. “We had three different players rotating on him to try and wear him down, but he wore all three of them down instead. It was a man playing against youngsters.”

Irvine got the usual performances from Miglinieks and freshman of the year Kevin Simmons (18 points, nine rebounds), but the Anteaters’ role players played huge roles in the victory over the 21-7 Aggies.

Michael Tate played inspired defense against center Eric Franson, the Big West player of the year who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Channell came off the bench to score 20 points and grab eight rebounds and freshman Brian Keefe played solid defense against Woodard, who made only three of 11 three-point attempts.

“Tate’s performance tonight was enormous,” Baker said. “He’s got so much heart this building isn’t big enough to hold it.”

Irvine led by nine (63-52) with 8 minutes 18 seconds remaining, but the Aggies put together a 7-0 run and closed to within two points twice within the last minute. The Anteaters led, 74-72, with 13 seconds remaining when senior guard Zuri Williams put up an airball on a free throw and then clanked the second one off the back of the rim.

For some reason, Williams and Baker were smiling.

“That shot was so weak, I couldn’t help but laugh,” Williams said.

Baker: “I just thought, ‘OK, we’re not going to make it easy.’ ”

Then Woodard lost control of the ball trying to create a shot at the top of the key and was called for traveling and Channell slipped in a pair of free throws with 4.4 seconds left.

The Aggies must now must sweat out Sunday’s NCAA tournament pairings after a season of many highlights and few low points . . . until Friday.

“We got exactly what we deserved tonight,” Eustachy said. “We broke down all over the court. We didn’t execute the defensive scheme and we took some shots we don’t normally take.

“I don’t know if we’ll get (an NCAA at-large spot) or not, but I think these guys deserve it. But tonight the better team won. Right now, Irvine is a very, very good team.”

Of course. It’s March, the month for Anteater Madness.

In other quarterfinal action:

New Mexico State 96, UNLV 76--New Mexico State scored 62 points in the second half to turn a three-point halftime deficit into a rout. The Rebels made only three of 23 second-half three-point attempts and shot only 35% from the floor for the game.

Nevada 64, Pacific 62--Eathan O’Bryant hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give fourth-seeded Nevada the victory. O’Bryant put up a shot with four seconds left, grabbed his own long rebound and sank the buzzer beater. Faron Hand left the Wolfpack with 18 points. O’Bryant added 15.