Despite misfiring, basketball ’Bows had fire in their eyes

The numbers bear repeating.

Hawaii shot 3-for-24 from the field in the second half on Thursday night — and still managed to win at UC Irvine, 62-61, to snap its five-game losing streak.

“I’ve only coached 15 years, but I haven’t seen that in a box score in a half, that I can recall, whether you win or lose,” UH coach Eran Ganot said in a phone interview Friday. “I just think there was something that I felt good about throughout the game. The look in our guys’ eyes, how hard we were competing. We’ve had a tough little stretch there and we’re certainly not out of the woods. But I just felt good, when the shots weren’t falling, the way we were competing and the confidence we were playing with.”

The Rainbow Warriors (14-10, 5-6 BWC) hope to carry that same spirit into a place they’ve had plenty of success — UC Riverside’s SRC Arena. The ’Bows are 4-1 there as a Big West member, including wins the past two years.

If they can keep the UH-UCR series’ curious road dominance going today — the teams have won the last five on each other’s floors — UH can earn its first two-game road trip sweep since last February.

“Obviously I’d like to keep that trend going,” Ganot said. “But this is three years of it and every team’s different, so you can’t get into too much of that.”

There’s also the matter of avenging last week’s four-point home loss to the last-place Highlanders (7-18, 2-9), a devastating moment for the ’Bows.

The gutty win at Irvine just might have swung UH’s momentum back the right way with five games remaining before the Big West tournament. The Rainbows were in danger of losing their sixth straight, but instead made a second-half lead stand up for the first time in five games over that stretch.

UH made just one field goal in the final 17-plus minutes, a Zigmars Raimo layup with 7:29 to go. The ’Bows fell behind but closed it out at the line, sinking 11 of 12 in the final 10 minutes.

They were 20 of 24 for the game and are 109-for-134 (81.3 percent) in the last seven.

UH did enough in other areas, too, outperforming the best rebounding team in the conference 37-36 and committing a season-low-tying eight turnovers. It was all required for UH improving to 3-0 in one-point games this season.

“The tough thing is you get to enjoy it, but you don’t get to enjoy it long,” Ganot said. “You gotta shift gears quick, especially with the (hour) drive.”

UH practiced at one of UCR’s auxiliary gyms Friday night.

Riverside is coming off a 69-62 win at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday, in which the Highlanders recorded a season-high 44 bench points. It was crucial — the Big West’s last-place team does not make the league tourney.

“I didn’t want our guys going into (that) one thinking it’s a must-win when we’ve got five games left,” interim coach Justin Bell told UCR athletics. “Every game for us is a must-win. We want to take every game seriously.”

Two missing players from UCR’s 64-60 win over UH — guard Dikymbe Martin (suspension) and center Alex Larsson (ankle injury) — have returned and were instrumental off the bench. Martin, UCR’s leader in scoring average, (13.3 ppg), missed six games and Larsson three.

“(Martin) is a really good player. His ability to score the ball has helped us a ton,” Bell said. “Having him and (Larsson) back is really big.” Ganot likewise noted UCR is improved from a week and a half ago, saying “these guys have given us trouble in the past.”

Backup big man Menno Dijkstra and guard Chance Murray had the crucial 3s down the stretch of the stunner in Honolulu.

UH has gone with four different starting lineups in the past five games. Its new look at Irvine was Drew Buggs, Brocke Stepteau and Leland Green in at guard, with Sheriff Drammeh shifted to the bench.

With an 8-for-11 free-throw shooting performance at UCI, senior forward Mike Thomas (337) moved within four of Terry Houston (341) at the bottom of the UH career top 10 in attempts. He’s also within 22 of the top 10 for free throws made.