UC Irvine spoils Hawaii’s senior night

Locked. Down.

UC Irvine played an effective spoiler to Hawaii’s senior night, controlling the action and ultimately the Rainbow Warriors with an impressive defensive performance in a 66-57 road victory on Saturday.

The Stan Sheriff Center “White-out” crowd of 5,747 helped send off UH’s three outgoing upperclassmen with cheers during traditional postgame ceremonies, but they had little to cheer about during the action, as UH (16-11, 7-7 Big West) had its three-game winning streak vacuumed up by the Anteaters.

“It’s disappointing we didn’t get an outcome deserving of this crowd, these seniors, this team,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “But it’s life and we move forward. I told them … let this go and enjoy your senior night, because it’s special and it’s rare and you guys are deserving of it.”

Drew Buggs scored 11 and Sheriff Drammeh added 10, but the Rainbows shot 34.6 percent and remained tied with Long Beach State for fifth with two regular-season games to play. UH heads to the road next week to UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton in advance of the Big West tournament.

UCI (16-15, 11-4) won for the eighth time in nine games — its only blip was UH’s 62-61 win at Irvine nine days prior — and is in position for a third straight regular-season title.

Senior co-captain Mike Thomas returned from a two-game absence for an unspecified injury, but was saddled with game-long foul trouble against Irvine’s deeper front line. The three-year captain fouled out in the last home game of his five-year career with six points and seven rebounds.

Thomas, true to character, involved the entire team for his senior dunk, as everybody, including younger brother Brandon, lobbed it off the glass in succession until it arrived to Thomas for the flush and a loud cheer.

“Bittersweet. If we would’ve gotten that game, it’d be all sweet,” said Thomas, who UH recently calculated as the program’s winningest player. “I’m just so grateful — for the community, for my coaches, for everybody.”

But being on the receiving end of a thunderous John Edgar Jr. dunk on senior night was not what co-captain Gibson Johnson (seven points) had in mind.

“Obviously the game was not what we wanted, but on senior night you kinda gotta just wash that and move on to the next thing,” said Johnson, a two-year player who arrived in 2016 as a national champion out of Salt Lake Community College.

“One night doesn’t sum up two years of great experiences and the love that Hawaii has shown. For me to be down after a night like this would be disrespectful to people who have done so much for me.”

UH’s third outgoing player, redshirt junior Zach Buscher, got in for the final 1:26 with UCI well in control. The fan favorite hit four straight free throws, then, after a UCI turnover, he tried to lob it to Samuta Avea for a jam. But the ball went straight through the net and didn’t count. The crowd cheered anyway.

At Irvine, UH was held to 3-for-24 shooting in the second half. This time, UCI held on to win shooting 6-for-23 in the second.

“We hit them in the mouth to start (there), and tonight they hit us in the mouth to start,” Thomas said. “They hit a lot of good jump shots, hit open looks, and finished inside. We tried to respond in the second half, but it’s tough when you break your principles like that in the first half and have to regain your identity, it’s not something you want to do.”

UCI came in second nationally in total rebounds and fourth in field-goal shooting allowed. It put the clamps down as UH matched its lowest first-half output of the season, and narrowly avoided game lows in points and field-goal percentage.

Reigning defensive player of the year Jonathan Galloway (10 rebounds) had a hand in stifling Thomas and Johnson.

“There’s a lot of basketball-savvy fans here in Hawaii,” Irvine coach Russell Turner said. “I hope they can appreciate the performance individually of Jonathan Galloway. Both those guys had to face him over and over tonight. And that’s a hard night, from a lot of players. I think we defend as a team, but we have an individual defender like Jonathan Galloway we focus on some of the biggest threats for the other team. Sometimes he becomes a weapon for us.”

UCI did not attempt a free throw in the first half, and still controlled from the outset and led by nine at the break. Guard Evan Leonard scored a game-high 19 points and Edgar added 14.

Brocke Stepteau hit a top-arc 3 to open the second half. Buggs sank a pull-up jumper and followed with a corner triple with 15 minutes left. Drammeh stuck an elbow jumper to make it a two-point game with 12:47 left.

Edgar rose up for a transition dunk with 7:22 left, and Johnson gamely attempted to redirect him in midair. Instead, he threw it down with gusto, plus the foul. That put the Anteaters up 11 and they were in control the rest of the way.