Warriors hold off UC Santa Barbara, 65-57
Isaac Fleming scored 22 points off the bench and Stefan Jankovic added 19 points, nine rebounds and two blocks tonight to help Hawai’i hold off UC Santa Barbara, 65-57, in Big West Conference men’s basketball action.
A vocal crowd of 6,323 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Warriors improve to 13-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big West, despite playing without starting wing Aaron Valdes for all but four minutes due to an injured toe. The Gauchos fell to 6-8 and 0-1.
After trailing 28-27 at halftime and 30-27 after Michael Bryson’s jumper from the right elbow 30 seconds into the second half, UH responded with an 11-2 run ignited by Fleming’s back-to-back 3-pointers from the left and then right corners and capped by Jankovic’s jumper which gave the Rainbow Warriors a 38-32 lead with 16:44 remaining.
Hawai’i extended it to 44-36 on Mike Thomas’ layup off a Quincy Smith assist with 13:33 on the clock, but UCSB clawed its way back and tied it at 50-50 on Mitch Brewe’s putback at the 7:40 mark. The Rainbow Warriors quickly grabbed the lead back on Fleming’s 3-pointer from the right with with 7:08 remaining, but the Gauchos stayed within striking distance and closed it to 58-57 on Gabe Vincent’s 3-pointer with 3:55 remaining.
Jankovic made on e of two free throws to push the lead to 59-57 at the two-minute mark, then made it 61-57 on a shot clock-beating layup off Fleming’s assist with 41 seconds left. After a 3-point miss by Bryson from the right wing with 22 seconds left, Roderick Bobbitt was fouled and sank two free throws to push it to 63-57, and then after a Gauchos turnover on the next possession, Fleming was fouled and sealed the victory on two free throws with 12 ticks remaining.
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
(Game photo courtesy Matt Osumi)
Isaac is the man along with the others like Janks. Quincy had 6 steals, 4 assists and zero turnovers. Someone who questioned Eran’s recruits, look at Sheriff who is darn quick on defense. Roderick with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, Mike with 8 rebounds, Janks 9.
Not a pretty game but you do what you gotta do to get the win. Last year we lost those kind of games. It just comes down to the last 5 minutes of the game. You try to stay close and then dig down deep and pull out the victory. And that’s what they did. Flemming rose to the occasion. As did Jankovic. Quiet night for the rest on offense. But they bring the defense each and every night. That’s what champions do.
I’m so proud of this team!! Your right Islandman.. Sheriff IS dam quick on defense! Everybody stepped up nicely! What a game!
Hope AV isn’t hurt too bad
great win fellas!
Strong.
What impress me was Ganot kept Sheriff on the floor that’s major it will pay off down the stretch.
only 6 more home games.
it appears warriors will go undefeated in bwc
Isaac was huge tonight. He really stepped up after Aaron’s injury, playing good defense on Bryson and making some terrific shots. So glad to have him with the team.
Love Isaac Fleming. He’s been passing up shots for teammates a lot this year, but tonight he knew he had to bring it with Valdes being out. Way to rise to the occasion on both O and D. Good team defense tonight as well. Especially controlling the boards!
Janks really kept us in the game during the first half. Fleming was great as usual. Did Bobbitt play yet another full game? Awesome game from Drammeh! I’d like to see how many fouls he drew…must be around 6. Great composure from a guy who probably didn’t think he’d even get to set foot on the court tonight. As bigdaddy mentioned, affording more playing time to Drammeh will pay off big time. What’s surprising is how Stepteau hasn’t been playing much at all despite decent playing time at the beginning of the season.
Fingers crossed for Valdes’ injury to not be anything major. Saw him walk around the arena afterwards without limping, which is reassuring he’s ok.
Fingers crossed the NCAA will lift post-season ban. If our juniors and Fleming stay, and with the addition of Purchase, Owies, and Buggs… we could be looking at the best team in UH history.
Big Drink, i drink to that. And bigdaddy, Isaac was on the post-game radio show tonight. We learned a lot more about him. Something like he learned his game playing with the inner city kids who foul a lot and also vs his older brother who roughed him up and made him cry so he had to figure out ways to avoid him to score,etc. And we learned several other things.
Big daddy is was saying the same thing. Shariff just needs more playing time and he could be something. Your son is still light years ahead, but as we never know when someone may go down.
With Valdes probably gone a month at least, Fleming is going to be leaned on even more so. and Drammeh has to be ready to play big minutes. the next few weeks are going to be extremely difficult.
For.a Toe? Hope it’s NOT So Serious…
AND/OR that AV is Tough Enough to Play through (pain)…
Worst Case… Next Up…
Plenty Room for other 7/8 to Step Up…
For.a Toe? Hope it’s NOT So Serious…
AND/OR that AV is Tough Enough to Play through (pain)…
Worst Case… Next Up…
Plenty Room for other 7/8 to Step Up…
Tribe?
[Please Delete Duplicate — Mahalo]
If it’s a Turf Toe as initially reported, playing through the pain would hurt the team. he’d be useless.
but im hearing its a foot sprain, that’s infinitely better.
Thx