Rainbows’ winning streak hits 5

In a 48-hour span, a weakness became a strength.

Hawaii went from tying a season-high of 23 turnovers on Thursday to setting a season low of seven, and the Rainbow Warriors matched their longest winning streak under Gib Arnold at five games with a 78-72 defeat of UC Irvine on Saturday night.

UH (15-9, 9-4 Big West) moved into sole possession of second place with five Big West games remaining.

Offensive execution wasn’t always pretty before the crowd of about 6,500, but UH generally got a shot out of almost every possession on this night behind big men Vander Joaquim (15 points, 10 rebounds), Christian Standhardinger (20 points, nine boards) and Isaac Fotu (11 points, 5-for-6 shooting). Swingman Hauns Brereton added 16 points behind a 12-for-12 effort at the free-throw line, which helped put the game away.

"Everybody’s just loose, enjoying the moment. Playing for each other," Joaquim said.

After giving it away 18 times against Long Beach State’s pressure in the second half Thursday, UH committed none for nearly the first 10 minutes Saturday and finished the first half with just two against some light ball pressure.

Working against the press was an emphasis in practice on Friday and during shootaround Saturday.

When the Anteaters showed it, the ‘Bows broke it with confidence.

"Not only did we break it, we scored against it, and we didn’t turn the ball over, and ended up getting fouled or getting layups against it," Arnold said. "As a coach, you couldn’t be happier; you want to see growth."

One more win will match last season’s total. UH gets its next chance at UC Davis on Thursday.

Arnold earned his 50th win in his third year as UH coach, but there wasn’t a huge cushion to work with, unlike Thursday’s 94-73 win over first-place Long Beach State.

The Anteaters (12-13, 6-6) erased an early nine-point deficit and led by three at halftime. They went up seven before UH applied the defensive clamps during a decisive 14-0 run to go from down seven to up seven.

The Anteaters were scoreless for a decisive seven-minute stretch from 16:45 to 9:45 to play.

"It was huge, it was (won) on the defensive end," Arnold said. "It means a lot to this team."

Irvine took a six-point lead to open the second half, then went up 42-35 on a 3-pointer by Michael Wilder with 16:45 to play.

The game turned when Joaquim scored inside, then blocked Will Davis II’s dunk attempt at the rim to spark the crowd with 15:33 to go.

Two possessions later, Joaquim got a top-arc 3 to bounce in to pull the ‘Bows within a point. Soon after, he faked another 3, then drove to the rim for a bucket.

"It was just all about effort," Joaquim said. "We just stayed aggressive. We didn’t fold. We just kept playing. We missed a lot of shots from 3 ball, but we just stayed together."

UH 3-point shooting was indeed poor (3-for-16, 18.8 percent), but Brandon Spearman put down a big one to make it 52-46 with nine minutes left.

Irvine coach Russell Turner called two timeouts during the decisive run, but the tide was turned.

"They played well — I mean give them credit, they had great energy tonight as we expected," Turner said. "They made the plays to win the game. They got a bunch of guys to perform really well, and I respect that."

Irvine’s top player, lefty guard Daman Starring (18 points) connected on a 3 to make it 65-61 with 2:48 to play. Standhardinger came back with a big baseline basket and that was as close as it would get down the stretch. The Anteaters had to foul soon thereafter with a minute and change.

UH went 11-for-12 at the line to put the game away, including 8-for-8 from Brereton.

"We put the right guy at the line," Arnold said.

UH’s superior ball control allowed it to build a 27-18 lead on a top-arc 3 by Brandon Jawato with 7:12 remaining in the first half.

Then everything clogged up.

The ‘Eaters closed the half on a 16-4 run, during which Joaquim picked up his second foul and left the game.

Adam Folker got a second-chance hook shot at the buzzer to make it 34-31 UCI at the break.

On his 50th win, Arnold said: I wish it had taken two years instead of three. I don’t know if they give out a trophy for 50 wins, but there’ve been a lot of good ones in there. I still feel like I got the job yesterday, so that blows my mind."