UC Davis bombs its way past Rainbows

One of the best individual performances ever seen at the Stan Sheriff Center emphatically ended Hawaii’s run of Big West success here.

UC Davis sophomore guard Corey Hawkins scored 40 points, the second-most ever posted by any player in the building, and the Aggies sank 16 3-pointers in a 93-82 defeat of the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday.

A crowd of about 5,500 watched in stunned silence as the 6-foot-3 Hawkins, the son of NBA veteran Hersey Hawkins, knocked down shot after shot despite a reputation as more of a threat off the drive than around the perimeter.

"These are the games you live for," Hawkins said. "You have a good crowd and they’re all rooting against you. That’s when it’s your time to shine. I just wanted to show my team that I was there for them, come out and give it my all."

UH coach Gib Arnold offered his respect for Hawkins’ night in the postgame press conference.

"We saw a heck of a show, and we were on the wrong end of it," said Arnold, whose team had a 4-0 home record in the Big West going into Saturday.

A barely believable barrage of buckets buried the ‘Bows in the first half. They made 14 of their UH-opponent-record-tying 16 deep balls in the period to build a 17-point halftime lead. Hawkins had seven of them.

Hawkins came in averaging 17.9 points. He went 10-for-14 from the field, including 8-for-9 on 3s, and was perfect on 12 free-throw attempts in the final two minutes.

"Every once in a while a guy gets one of those special nights," Arnold said. "You’d like to see it for one of your own guys."

UH (10-8, 4-3 Big West) fell behind by 19 early in the second half but pressed manically to get back to within seven points twice in the final two minutes. But Hawkins could not be stopped, grabbing 12 total rebounds, which meant the ball remained in his hands and UH had no choice but to keep giving him chances to pad his points total. He delivered almost every time.

The ‘Bows, who fell into a tie for third place, now must try to get it done on the road for their next four games, starting at Cal Poly on Thursday. They are 0-3 in mainland games this season.

Road success is possible; just look at what Hawkins and the Aggies did. UCD swept its two-game road trip and improved to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in the BWC.

The Aggies (7-10, 3-3) came in averaging 7.6 3-pointers per game, and thanks to Hawkins, they had that nearly beat by the midpoint of the first half.

"Everything that they threw was going in," UH guard Garrett Jefferson said. "We tried a bunch of different defenses, but we just didn’t get out to shooters fast enough.

"Once they hit one, two, it just kept going, three, four. They kept going in."

Cal State Fullerton guard Josh Akognon scored 41 at the Sheriff against UH on Nov. 16, 2008. Hawkins’ 40 was seven off the UH team record by Texas-Pan American’s Marshall Rogers in 1976.

Junior forward Christian Standhardinger scored 20 points with eight rebounds on Saturday to lead Hawaii. Senior center Vander Joaquim added 16 points and 11 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the season, as UH had a 40-22 advantage in points in the paint.

The ‘Bows even enjoyed a rare 27-15 advantage in points off turnovers. None of it mattered.

UH had allowed only one opponent to shoot better than 50 percent coming in. The Aggies finished at 52.7 percent, including 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) on 3s.

"We had a really good shoot-around," UCD coach Jim Les said.

UH did a better job of taking away the outside shot after the break, but the visitors succeeded in tweaking their strategy against the overextended ‘Bows. The Aggies swung the ball effectively and scored on several open looks inside.

Once UH came out of the break with the 3-ball in mind, UCD went to pounding it inside on the ‘Bows, who were spread then, desperately defending the perimeter.

Forward J.T. Adenrele (14 points) threw down a two-handed thunder flush on the ‘Bows for a 62-43 lead with 16:30 to play.

UH’s last-gasp push brought it to within 76-67 on a Fotu basket inside with 4:29 to play, then to 79-70 on a Brandon Jawato pull-up 3-pointer.

Standhardinger scored inside to make it a seven-point game with 1:54 left. UH burned its last timeout … then had to foul the unflappable Hawkins six straight times. He hadn’t gone to the line once before that.

"We had the disadvantage to get down early in the first half. In the second we were chasing after them and tried to pressure," Standhardinger said. "I’m actually very proud of my teammates, because if you saw the second half, you saw we were giving our all."

UCD point guard Paolo Mancasola dished 11 assists, the most by a UH foe this season.

Freshman Ozren Pavlovic got the start at point guard after playing 28 minutes there in a win over Pacific on Thursday. He split time with Jace Tavita almost evenly at the position in this one as Arnold subbed out frequently looking for answers to slow down the Aggies.