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The Hawaii basketball team’s four-game road winning streak came to an end with a 63-61 defeat at Long Beach State on Thursday.
Fourth-place UH (19-9, 8-6 Big West) led most of the way at the Walter Pyramid but was burned by a corner 3-pointer by Travis Hammonds with 8.1 seconds left.
UH had a timeout remaining, but elected not to use it. Point guard Keith Shamburger dribbled to the top of the opposite 3-point arc and went for a shot, but had it blocked just before the buzzer.
Hammonds scored nine points for third-place LBSU (13-14, 9-4). It was his only 3 of the game.
The defeat, and the home-and-home sweep of UH by the 49ers, drastically increased the likelihood of a fourth-place finish with two regular-season games remaining for the Rainbow Warriors before the Big West tournament in Anaheim, Calif.
Rainbows senior forward Christian Standhardinger scored 17 points to become UH’s 16th career 1,000-point scorer, and the fourth Rainbow Warrior to do so in a two-year stay in Manoa. He also surpassed John Penebacker’s single-season free-throw attempts record of 224 by going 5-for-7 at the stripe.
The ‘Bows, who led by as many as nine points in the first half, played heavy doses of 2-3 zone and scored six straight to take a 54-49 lead at the midpoint of the second half.
UH guard Garrett Nevels scored all of his nine points after halftime, including a basket inside for a 56-51 lead with six minutes to play.
Shamburger lobbed a pass to Standhardinger for a layup to put UH up 58-55 with 4:16 to play and Davis Rozitis got a putback for a five-point lead with 3:30 to go.
Tyler Lamb (game-high 18 points) stuck a big 3 with three minutes left to make it a two-point game, but Standhardinger made one of two at the line to make it 61-58 UH with 1:40 remaining.
On a third effort, LBSU forward Dan Jennings (15 points, 11 rebounds) got a putback to make it a one-point game with 1:08 to go.
Shamburger missed on a drive and the ball went of bounds to LBSU with 52.6 seconds left.
LBSU missed a long jumper but the ball went back to the Beach on a held ball with 17.7 seconds remaining.
Coming out of a 49ers timeout — their last — the ball went to Hammonds in the right corner, and he was money despite requiring gauze to stop bleeding at the top of his nose earlier in the half.
UH wing Brandon Spearman shot 4-for-4 in the first half, including three shots from long range, to lead all scorers with 11 at the break. But he went scoreless in the second half.
