‘Eaters sign three

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team will add some foreign flavor next season, as Slovakian natives Pavol Losonsky and Peter Simek are among three recruits who have signed a national letter of intent to compete for the Anteaters, UCI Coach Pat Douglass announced.

Derick Flowers, a 6-foot point guard at Pacific Hills High in Los Angeles, rounds out the three signees.

Losonsky is a 6-8 forward who is averaging 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds, while shooting 51.5% from the field (47 of 92) through eight games for Butte Community College. His high game this season was 22 points.

He averaged 16.9 points and 6.7 rebounds and shot 55.8% from the field in 26 games for Butte in 2007-08, when he received honorable mention in voting for the All-Northern California team.

Simek, a 6-9 center, is averaging 11.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game for Butte, which was 8-3 through Sunday. His highest single-game scoring output this season is 23.

Simek saw limited action at Southern Connecticut State, an NCAA Division II program, in 2007-08.

Flowers averaged 10.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.0 steals per game last season. A two-time first-team All-Delphic League honoree, he was the league Player of the Year as a sophomore, when he averaged 12.2 points and 4.3 assists per contest.

“Derick is a lightning-quick point guard,” Douglass said. “He is probably one of the best penetrating guards to join our program in the last decade.”

Douglass said Losonsky is one of the elite forwards in the state community college ranks, who can play inside and outside.

Douglass said Simek is agile and should provide both inside scoring and post defense.

— From staff reports