Green gives Hawaii another last-second victory

Again?

Yes, again.

Leland Green became the latest last-second hero at the Stan Sheriff Center, splashing in a corner 3 with 0.9 seconds left to send Hawaii to an 80-77 win over Cal State Northridge on Wednesday night.

Four days after Noah Allen stunned Long Beach State with a tying basket at the regulation buzzer, UH was at it again with a late-game comeback against a team predicted to finish at or near the top of the Big West Conference.

“It was crazy,” Green said.

“Gotta be No. 1,” the freshman added of the shots in his life.

UH (8-9, 2-2) trailed by seven with 7:44 to play in what was mostly a back-and-forth game — there were 14 ties and 22 lead changes. But the Rainbow Warriors closed the gap down the stretch with another resilient effort.

Allen scored 30 points, a new career high coming off his previous-best 25 in a 114-107 overtime win over Long Beach State on Saturday night. He notched his third double-double of the season with 12 rebounds and was the first UH player with a 30-point game since Stefan Jankovic did it against CSUN on Feb. 18 of last year.

“Really proud of our team. Fans just saw two epic games maybe in our program’s history,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We never got out of striking distance, but we never kind of made our move. But they have incredible poise and confidence in those situations for a young group.”

Jack Purchase was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 2:36 left and made all three. After a CSUN free throw, he hit his second 3 of the game for UH’s first lead since the start of the half, 75-74.

Kendall Smith, the younger brother of former UH guard Quincy Smith, came back with two foul shots for a 76-75 CSUN advantage. After Allen missed a 3, CSUN got the ball and called timeout with 1:23 left. But Smith missed a tough turnaround shot and UH rebounded and called time with 55.5 seconds to go.

Allen, the team’s lone senior, shot 9-for-16 from the field and 10-for-12 at the line. His last two free throws after a furious drive put UH up 77-76 with 41.1 seconds left. CSUN’s Tavrion Dawson drove and got fouled with 29.6 seconds left and went 1-for-2, tying the game up.

UH elected not to call timeout. Point guard Brocke Stepteau (11 points, seven assists), who played all 40 minutes, killed the clock at the top of the arc as the crowd of 3,199 got to its feet.

“It was loud in there, I couldn’t even hear the play. Brocke came off the (high) screen,” Green said.

Stepteau stopped at the free-throw line with a few seconds left and surveyed his options. Green was open in the right corner and Stepteau delivered a crisp pass. Green raised up from in front of the Hawaii bench with a Matadors defender flying at him.

“I heard the bench. They said, ‘Game winner,’ ” Green said.

And so it was. Smith’s desperation heave had no chance for CSUN (7-11, 3-2 Big West), which was out of timeouts.

Allen, the reigning Big West player of the week, stepped into the starting lineup for guard Sheriff Drammeh, who missed his first game of the season with a shoulder spasm.

Green’s shot was his first field goal of the second half. He finished 3-for-9 for nine points, coming off a career-best 25 against LBSU.

“That was a big, big shot for him,” Allen said of Green. “I can’t even explain how happy I am for him. I was actually wide open under the basket, but we’ll take that 10 times out of 10.”

UH committed 12 turnovers to six for CSUN. The Rainbow Warriors shot 16-for-18 at the free-throw line compared to 25-for-34 for the Matadors, who remained winless at the Sheriff in Big West play at 0-5.

Gibson Johnson added 11 points and six boards for UH, which continues play at home Saturday against UC Davis (11-8, 3-1).

“We used the last game as a springboard going forward. We’ll use this one as the same,” Allen said.

Smith led CSUN with 20 points, while Dawson added 18, Darin Johnson 15 and Aaron Parks 13.

CSUN committed only three first-half turnovers, but UH shot 52 percent in the period to take a one-point halftime lead.