UC Santa Barbara ends Warriors’ win streak, 76-66
The University of Hawai’i basketball team tried again to rally to victory, but it wasn’t enough this time in a 76-66 road loss at UC Santa Barbara.
UCSB’s Amadou Sow made sure the Rainbow Warriors could not extend their winning streak by scoring 30 points on near-perfect shooting.
A crowd of 1,346 at The Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif., watched the Gauchos avenge a seven-point loss at Hawai’i last month.
The Warriors, who had their four-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 14-7 overall and remained in second place in the Big West Conference at 5-2. UC Irvine, which beat UC Davis on Thursday, is in first place at 7-1.
UCSB improved to 15-8 overall and 4-4 in the conference. The Gauchos are now in a three-way tie for third place.
The Warriors rallied from significant deficits in their previous two games, and nearly did it again. They trailed by 12 points in the first half at UCSB, but managed to take a momentary one-point lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game.
“I appreciate the fight to come back and take the lead; our guys fight,” Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot said. “But (UCSB) imposed their will on the boards. I thought that was a big difference in the game. I thought points in the paint was a huge difference in the game. We were OK there, but we got annihilated inside.”
Sow, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, was the main annihilator. After Hawai’i took a 54-53 lead with 9:26 remaining, Sow scored 12 points during an 18-7 run by UCSB that put the Gauchos ahead for good at 71-61 with 3:03 remaining.
He shot 12 for 13 from the field overall, 2 for 2 on 3-pointers, and 4 for 4 on free throws. He scored 24 of his points in the second half, and also grabbed six rebounds.
“I started feeling it the first three possessions of the second half,” Sow said. “(Hawai’i) didn’t double team me … and I got a dunk and everything started clicking after that.”
Led by Sow, UCSB shot 55.8 percent from the field (29 for 52) and 93.8 percent on free throws (15 for 16), and also out-rebounded the Warriors, 33-23.
Justin Hemsley led the Warriors with 13 points and five rebounds off the bench. Dawson Carper added 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and three other Warriors (Eddie Stansberry, Zigmars Raimo and Justin Webster) scored nine points each. Drew Buggs added seven points and eight rebounds.
Hawai’i played its third consecutive game without injured starting forwards Samuta Avea (back) and Bernardo da Silva (foot).
The Warriors shot a respectable 45.3 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range (7 for 20). However, Ganot noted that they committed 15 turnovers, including 10 in the second half.
“We have been turning it over 10 times a game for the last seven or eight games,” Ganot said. “Ten alone in the second half, and unforced, really, in critical stretches. We want to continue to perform and build this thing, but you can’t overcome that on the road against a team like this.”
The Gauchos opened the game by hitting nine of their first 11 shots and taking a 20-10 lead. UCSB led by as many as 12 in the first half, but the Warriors managed to cut the score to 39-33 at intermission. The Gauchos shot 62.1 percent from the field (18 for 29) and out-rebounded Hawai’i, 18-7, in the first half.
The Warriors scored the first four points of the second half to get as close as 39-37, and the game stayed close the rest of the way.
A 3-pointer by Buggs tied the score at 51 with 10 minutes remaining, then a 3-pointer by Hemsley on the next UH possession gave the Warriors their first lead of the game at 54-53 with 9:26 remaining.
The lead would be short-lived for the Warriors, as Sow drained a 3-pointer to put UCSB back in front, igniting his late-game surge.
The Warriors will remain in California for a road game at Cal Poly on Saturday.
CLICK HERE to view boxscore
Big West Conference
Thursday’s Results
at UC Irvine 83, UC Davis 72
at UC Santa Barbara 76, Hawai’i 66
Sure could have used Da Silva and Avea… again… so what’s up with those two? Are they back from Winter Break yet? Drew Buggs is constantly limping and Raimo is always getting beat up underneath (with a bloody nose and he stuck some cotton just so he can come back into the game)… and what, they still play.
^^^ Agree. I said it before that the lack of depth could hurt this team at the end. I love it how hard they all play but 40 minutes a game for Drew and Eddie is going to catch up to them. Now with Webster starting and playing extra minutes, there really is no back ups for the guards. Samuta needs to get healthy ASAP.
Anyone else going crazy listening to the awful UCSB commentators? I’m thankful we only need to listen to that once a year. Wishing Samuta and Da Silva a speedy recovery!
Bows808… I totally agree lol those announcers are annoying!
I had to turn down the volume.
Really hope Avea and Desilva heal up soon.