Rainbows let UC Irvine slip away

IRVINE, Calif. »After seeing the lead exchanged 21 times in 35 minutes, Hawaii succumbed to a late collapse in its first Big West Conference road game Wednesday night.

UC Irvine needed an 11-1 blitz in the final five minutes to earn a 68-64 victory over the Rainbow Warriors in front of 1,541 at the Bren Events Center — and an ESPNU audience.

UH (9-6, 3-1) fell a half-game behind idle Cal Poly, which takes ownership of first place, and will meet Long Beach State on Saturday to conclude the road trip.

The Rainbows have lost four straight games to Irvine, dating to 1972.

Making the defeat more frustrating was the fact that Hawaii held an eight-point lead with 1:33 left in the first half. Reserve Davis Rozitis scored four points during an 8-0 spree that put the Rainbows ahead 31-23.

Rozitis played 14 minutes in the first half because Vander Joaquim picked up two fouls in the first 9:05, and played just 10 minutes in the first half.

But the Anteaters (8-9, 2-2) used Chris McNealy’s 3-pointer and Derick Flowers’ layup in the final 42.7 seconds to narrow their halftime deficit to 31-28.

Irvine then relied on its defense to exploit the Rainbows’ inexperience. The Anteaters forced nine turnovers in the second half and used them to score 11 points in the process of shooting 52.2 percent.

For the game, Hawaii committed 16 turnovers, which Irvine converted into 21 points.

"We’ve got to get stronger with the ball," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "Once we make this our strength, we’re going to be a pretty tough team to beat."

Both teams led 15 times in the second half before Isaac Fotu made a lay-in that put UH ahead 57-56 with 4:55 to play.

That basket was Hawaii’s last for the ensuing 4:20, as Irvine built a 67-58 advantage — the Anteaters’ biggest of the game — with 52.3 seconds remaining. But the Warriors produced one final spurt.

After Joaquim made an inside jumper with 34.4 seconds left, UH tried to recover behind an intense trapping defense.

The tactic almost worked.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, Brandon Spearman stole the ball and passed to Brandon Jawato, who buried a 3-pointer from the corner to narrow the deficit to 67-63 with 29 seconds to play.

Garrett Jefferson followed with another steal and sent the ball to Jawato, whose 3-point attempt bounced out. McNealy grabbed the rebound, got fouled and made the first of two free throws with 17.4 seconds left to secure the win.

Joaquim finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Spearman, in his first start since Dec. 8, and Christian Standhardinger scored 12 points apiece, with Standhardinger grabbing a career-best 13 rebounds.

But Fotu, who led the Big West in field-goal percentage coming into the game and had averaged 18.3 points in conference play, took only three shots, missed two of them and finished with four points.

Jawato’s streak of nine successive 3-point baskets ended when he missed his first attempt from the left corner with 12:16 remaining in the first half.

McNealy led four Anteaters in double figures with 15 points. Adam Folker secured 12 rebounds.