UPDATED: Long Beach State completes sweep of Warriors, 64-60
The in-game trend of ups and downs continued for the University of Hawai’i basketball team, but this time the Rainbow Warriors could not climb out of the downside in a 64-60 loss at Long Beach State.
A crowd of 2,100 at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif., watched the 49ers sweep the home-and-home series from the Warriors.
Hawai’i dropped to 15-11 overall and is now tied for fourth place in the Big West Conference at 6-6. The Beach improved to 10-18 overall and is tied for sixth place at 5-7.
The Warriors had a six-point lead midway through the first half, then fell behind by as many as 16 in the second half, then cut the deficit to four in the closing minutes.
“Same deal, we were up six, then down six,” UH head coach Eran Ganot said during a postgame radio interview on ESPN Honolulu. “I love the fight of our group late, but … the plays in the paint, the amount of free throws they took, we werent’ strong enough around the rim. I’m proud of our guys for fighting, but it’s a recurring theme. We have to stop putting ourselves in that position.”
Inconsistent shooting was another significant factor for the Warriors. Hawai’i shot just 33.3 percent (20 for 60) from the field, including just 25 percent (7 for 28) from 3-point. By comparison, the 49ers shot 46.7 percent (21 for 45) from the field, including 50 percent (7 for 14) from 3-point range.
Eddie Stansberry scored a game-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers, for the Warriors. He went 5 for 13 from 3-point range, while the rest of the team went 2 for 15. Justin Webster added 15 points off the bench, and Zigmars Raimo contributed eight points and nine rebounds. Junior forward Samuta Avea started, but was held scoreless (in 24 minutes) for the first time this season.
The Beach also won the rebounding battle, 40-33.
“Our lack of physicality was very telling in this game, both getting to the paint inside, getting to the paint on drives, and so we got a little stagnant,” Ganot said. “This is the 26th straight game, every game, we had a chance to win, but the runs, again, both ways. We have to learn our lesson at this point.”
Hawai’i took an early 18-12 lead after Webster converted a free throw following a technical foul assessed on Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson. However, the 49ers responded with a 13-2 run over the next 2:25 to take a 25-20 lead.
The Beach closed the first half with a 7-0 run to take a 34-24 lead at intermission. Hawai’i shot just 28.6 percent (8 for 28) from the field in the first half, including 21.4 percent (3 for 14) from 3-point range. In contrast, the 49ers shot 44 percent (11 for 25) from the field, including 62.5 percent (5 for 8) from 3-point range.
The 49ers increased their lead to 52-36 after Chance Hunter drained a 3-pointer with 9:40 remaining in the second half. Hawai’i staged a late rally and got as close as 62-58 with 18.8 seconds remaining, but the 49ers converted two free throws to keep it out of reach.
Michael Carter III led the 49ers with 15 points, and Josh Morgan added 10 points and six rebounds.
The Warriors will return to Honolulu this week for conference home games against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, and UC Riverside on Saturday. The game against UC Riverside on February 29 is the final home game of this season.
“The good thing is, if we can get our guys firing this week, we can make a big move here,” Ganot said. “I know (Avea) and (Bernardo da Silva) aren’t quite where they want to be yet, but they’re out there. Maybe they didn’t perform on the day, but they need the experience. The belief and the perspective here is that we’re going to click and it’s going to come. We just had a rough one tonight and we’ll get back to work.”
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Saturday’s Results
at Long Beach State 64, Hawai’i 60
UC Riverside 61, at Cal Poly 49
at UC Santa Barbara 70, UC Davis 56
UC Irvine 87, at CSUN 64
Just a horrible display. Very disappointed. You cannot win any games trying to bang threes when your percentage as a team is at 33% fg percentage. The team’s overall shooting has been poor for some time. Buggs has a bad habit of dribbling too far into the paint then gets trapped. The bigs haven’t learned to just take the ball up and when they’re in front of the basket. Take the damn ball straight up and at least draw the foul. All season long and all of them including Raimo hold the ball too long. Very frustrating with centers and forwards. I can’t believe UC Davis and Northridge are ahead of us. Coaches and players get an F grade fife this game. Long Beach was beatable at SSC and at the Pyramid. The starting five going forward should be Buggs , Eddie, Hemsley, Avea and Da Silva Wake up Warriors you need to win every game like its your last game. Where’s your Warrior attitude ? It appears you forgot It earlier this month. Coaches , you all need to will this team to win , whatever you’re teaching them on offense just ain’t working. The natives are getting restless as the saying goes. We have gone three years in a row losing the first round game in the tournament That should be incentive right there to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Totally embarrassing and unacceptable. I’ve gone to every tournament at Anaheim since we entered the conference. Please don’t make losing a habit. It kills the spirit and the fan base. You all on the team got to dig real deep and look at yourselves and get the ship turned around right now.
Yes so much to clean up. We need to get some athletic bigs!
Hawaii’s offense is too predictable. Like jjay said Drew drives and gets stuck
They wait to long to get into the offense.
Long Beach is not that great of a team lol
Can’t wake up the last 5 minutes of a game and expect
To win.
Need to play inspired basketball!!