Hawaii’s comeback bid falls short at Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif. >> In the midst of a frustrating first half, Hawaii coach Eran Ganot walked toward the Rainbow Warriors’ bench after watching Long Beach State extend its lead and made a comment.

“Damn,” Ganot said, “we can beat these dudes.”

Despite trailing by 14 points in the final 13 minutes, the ’Bows almost turned that statement into fact.

Yet after narrowing its deficit to four points with 38 seconds to play, UH left the Walter Pyramid with an 89-81 loss to the 49ers as both teams began Big West Conference play in front of 2,246 on Thursday night.

Since entering the Big West in 2012, the ’Bows (9-5, 0-1) have yet to win at Long Beach in six attempts — and have not defeated the 49ers (7-10, 1-0) at the Pyramid since 2007.

“We were three (points) away from making it a one-possession game with two minutes to go,” Ganot said. “We were fortunate that we were in the game. The hallmark of our program is defend, rebound and take care of the ball. Today, we were 0-for-3.”

UH allowed the 49ers to shoot 63.3 percent from the field, a season high that Ganot called “our highest percentage (allowed), I think, in our last three years.” Long Beach also out-rebounded the visitors 34-21, forced 16 turnovers and used them to score 23 points.

“We gave up too many pick-6s,” Ganot said in reference to the steals and ensuing fast-break baskets. “You give up five or six in one game? You might have one every two weeks. But five or six in one game? Layups for dunks? On the road? That’s hard to overcome.”

Nevertheless, Brocke Stepteau scored a career-high 19 points by making seven of 12 shots, three of five from 3-point range. Sheriff Drammeh added 15 points and Drew Buggs contributed 14 points, five assists and two steals in his first collegiate appearance in his hometown.

“Just staying aggressive was the difference for me tonight,” Stepteau said. “I hit my first couple of shots and I was feeling pretty good and confident. Then I hit a stretch in the second half where I missed three in a row. But my teammates just told me to keep shooting and I hit some more at the end of the game.”

Stepteau scored 10 points in the first half, a performance that contrasted with UH’s poor start. The ’Bows held an 18-14 lead when Long Beach embarked on a 20-9 surge to move ahead 34-27 with 5:32 left in the first half. The 49ers made seven steals in forcing 10 turnovers and used them to scored 13 points. The hosts also outscored the ’Bows in the lane 32-12 in shooting 65.5 percent.

Long Beach’s Gabe Levin and Temidayo Yussuf benefited the most. The 6-foot-7 forwards each scored 10 points in the half, with point guard Deishuan Booker adding 10 points.

“It was our transition D and our defense in the paint,” Ganot said. “We weren’t getting back in transition. We have a size disadvantage and we do a good job helping our bigs, provided we can keep them off the block. But they were too close under the rim.”

UH needed 3-point shooting to keep pace. The ’Bows made eight of 15 shots beyond the arc but just seven of 16 within it in the first half. With 12:42 to play, the 49ers held a 62-48 advantage.

But several factors enabled the visitors to recover.

First, Levin missed nearly eight minutes of the second half after getting his third foul 32 seconds in. Yussuf picked up three fouls, including a technical, in the first 2:47 of the half and went to the bench for nearly 11 minutes.

Second, UH began exploiting the 49ers’ undisciplined defense, which ranked last in the conference in points allowed per game (82.1) and opposition field-goal percentage (48.2 percent).

“They were athletic and they fly around, so we knew that going in,” Stepteau said. “When you penetrate, they’re all going to converge and everyone else is going to be open. I think we did a good job of moving the ball. We didn’t make as many open shots as we would’ve liked, but we got the shots we wanted when we didn’t turn it over.”

Third, Zigmars Raimo made major contributions when Mike Thomas and Gibson Johnson got into foul trouble. Though he only played the final nine minutes, the 6-foot-7 Latvian scored three points, grabbed three rebounds, made two steals and provided intensity.

“He gave us a spirit,” Ganot said. “He did the best job, I thought, on their bigs in terms of keeping them off the block. We had a shot to cut it to three with 1:40 left, or something like that, and I thought he ignited that.”

Instead, the ’Bows drew within 83-79 on Stepteau’s 3-point shot with 38 seconds left. But Booker made two free throws in the double bonus with 36.7 seconds remaining.

On UH’s ensuing possession, Buggs threw a pass out of bounds with 28.7 seconds left. Then Stepteau fouled Edon Maxhuni — who nearly came to UH before choosing Long Beach — and the Finnish freshman made two more free throws in the double bonus to give Long Beach an 87-79 lead with 26.6 seconds to play.

“We fought hard, but we just had too many mistakes, too many turnovers,” Stepteau said. “We didn’t really deserve to win.”

Long Beach’s Barry Ogalue led all scorers with a career-best 21 points, 13 of them in the second half. Levin, Yussuf and Booker finished with 18 points apiece, with Booker adding four steals and four assists.