Jefferson, the defensive guy, hits the biggest shot

At this rate, Garrett Jefferson, University of Hawaii’s heretofore defensive specialist, is in danger of blowing his once well-established cover.

Mostly used for his late-game and situational defensive skills, Jefferson won his second — and most improbable game — in two seasons for the Rainbow Warriors with a 10-foot floater at the buzzer Thursday night, knocking off Cal State Fullerton, 90-88.

“You think of him as our defensive guy primarily, but he can shoot the big shots,” said Isaac Fotu, whose career-high 29 points helped carry the night. “Not a lot of people know that about him.” 

Well, at least until Thursday night, that is.

Indeed that was undoubtedly the scouting report around the Big West until Jefferson, who would be employed for all of nine minutes in the game, found himself inserted into the game with 17 seconds remaining. Then, suddenly, with 4.9 seconds left, UH inbounded the ball to Jefferson and put its early conference hopes squarely in his hands.

On a night when UH guards contributed heavily to the 20 turnovers, Jefferson made his way up the court with an excited urgency and, taking to the air near the free throw line, lofted in the winning basket as the game-ending buzzer bathed the Stan Sheriff Center court in red light.

It was appropriately Jefferson’s moment to shine. And while he would say he felt good about the shot as the ball rose from his hands, Jefferson said, “I was just hoping it was in time and hoping, hoping, ‘please go in.’”

That prayer — and the ones of the partisans in a crowd of about 4,000 — would be answered and, with it, the ’Bows find themselves at 8-5 and, more important, 2-0 in the Big West Conference. With UC Riverside (4-10) the Saturday night opponent to close out the homestand, UH has a very good chance to be 3-0.

By the time he was able to  reaffirm the shot was indeed in time and on target, Jefferson was peaking up from the bottom of a celebratory pile of teammates at midcourt.

It was an ending not unlike Nov. 25, 2011, when his three-point play with 3.1 seconds remaining lifted UH past Pacific, another Big West team.

That’s a far cry from the way things appeared with 5 minutes, 19 seconds remaining Thursday night, when the ’Bows were down by 11 points (80-69), buried under their own turnovers to steadily crawl back and eventually tie it a 88.

Enter Jefferson, who was averaging 8.3 minutes per game and just 1.7 points per outing this season, 10th in scoring average on the 12-man roster. And hardly the guy the opposition has come to fear.

“Everybody knows he can play defense,” Fotu said. “They’ve seen that from him. But we also see him in practice and know he can hit the big shots. In practice, he likes to take that last shot. Especially from around there (the free-throw line), so we knew he could make it.”

And because Jefferson did, his once solid cover as just a defender has been blown.

———
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.