HONOLULU – The best thing about Wednesday night for Hawaii?
The season goes on.
Unlike UH’s bitter encounter with UC Irvine in the first round of the Big West tournament last March, the Rainbow Warriors will live to fight another day after a disheartening 75-74 overtime loss to the Anteaters at the Stan Sheriff Center.
At the Honda Center, it was a 10-point lead squandered in the final four minutes, capped with a Max Hazzard jumper that Brocke Stepteau could not answer at the other end of a 68-67 defeat.
Here, it was a 14-point lead with 8:36 left (and 10-pointer with 7:45 left), capped with a Hazzard jumper that Jack Purchase (then Drew Buggs) could not answer. You could see the gut punch that inflicted on Purchase, who crumpled to the court in dejection while Anteaters celebrated nearby.
But no careers were ended this time, with weeks to stew on it ala departed mainstays Mike Thomas and Gibson Johnson. The ‘Bows (11-7, 2-2 BWC) get a chance to redeem themselves in a matter of days, albeit against a different foe.
UH hosts UC Davis (5-13, 1-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
UH coach Eran Ganot opened his postgame press conference by saying he was “as proud as I’ve been of my team all year.”
“I don’t want to go there,” Ganot said when asked if the feeling was familiar to March. “There were similarities, obviously. The difference there is we’ve gotten so much better at taking care of the ball. It was turnovers late a year ago. Here, more (them) making some tough shots. So I feel a little better about our group to finish. … But the feeling still sucks. It’s the same bad feeling. But why is it so much better? We get to play again. That one, you get to sit on it. I’m looking forward to getting back to work as we always do … and lose this.”
This time Irvine even did it despite missing eight free throws in a row while UH still enjoyed a double-figure lead in the second half (UCI converted just seven of 17 for the game).
UCI shot better from the field as the game went along and finished at an even 50 percent there, but as Ganot noted there were some tough makes among those. All-Big West forward Tommy Rutherford in particular surged after a slow start.
UCI coach Russell Turner made unsolicited note of the similarities to the teams’ last meeting when talking of the comeback.
“I really believe in the people on this team. A comeback like that’s not possible unless you have belief in one another,” Turner said. “Hard-fighting guys. That’s what we have and I’m proud of that. I’m proud that the people of Hawaii got to see it. I feel bad for Hawaii losing a game like this, a comparable game to the one in the Big West tournament. We’ve got a lot of experience in close games like this. And even though we’re in some ways young, we’ve been through some battles. There was belief tonight that we could come back and finish it off. Hawaii obviously also had that belief. That’s why it was such a great game.”
UH had a prime opportunity to win in regulation, even with most of the momentum on Irvine’s side.
There was a key five-point possession for Irvine when Purchase was tagged for a flagrant 1 foul, cutting UH’s lead in half with 4:31 left; John Edgar Jr. hit a 3 after a couple of free throws from Jonathan Galloway.
In the final minute of regulation, Eddie Stansberry missed a corner 3 and he fouled out going for the ball on the rebound. Hazzard put the Anteaters up with two makes at the line with 32.5 seconds left.
UH called timeout and Galloway fouled Sheriff Drammeh off the ball. The senior guard made both to tie it at 64 with 25.8 seconds left.
Anteaters guard Evan Leonard attempted a 3 a little early while holding for the final shot of regulation and UH got a long rebound ahead to Drammeh, who elected to pull up for 3 and the win but was off the mark at the buzzer. Some noted he might’ve been able to take the ball in for a shot or a drawn foul, but as it was, he got a clean look for the win that rattled out.
The teams went bucket for bucket in OT until Drammeh’s 3 — his first make after eight misses — gave UH the lead for the last time at 74-73 with 15 seconds left.
After a timeout, the shifty Hazzard got a pretty clean look to curl in from the right side of the foul line, and it was the fifth time in seven years of Big West play here that UCI prevailed.
Ganot recognized lapses in some key areas, particularly in shot selection, while UH was up double digits.
“No feeling sorry for ourselves. We keep plugging along,” he said.
Thursday
UH women 71, Cal Poly 54: Courtney Middap finished with 15 points and Tia Kanoa filled the stat sheet with 14 points, seven assists and seven rebound as the Wahine picked up their most convining win of the season in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
UH (6-11, 2-2 Big West) forces 20 turnovers as the Mustangs (4-13, 1-3) dropped their third in a row.
The Rainbow Wahine face UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.