Rainbows’ road show rolls into Riverside

Brandon Jawato’s night to remember has a place etched in the memory of UC Riverside coach Jim Wooldridge.

On Jan. 5, the Hawaii redshirt freshman went 7-for-7 on 3-pointers, all in the first half of a 76-61 win over the Highlanders at the Stan Sheriff Center. Jawato’s shooting tied UH and Big West Conference records for 3-pointers without a miss and set the UH freshman record for 3s made.

That performance has been no small part of the ninth-place Highlanders’ preparation for hosting the fourth-place Rainbow Warriors today in Riverside, Calif.

"His 3-point shooting night was incredible," Wooldridge said. "We can’t have that happen again. You know, we went through a real dry spell offensively in the first half when they threw that 3-2 zone up against us. We can’t go dry like that, because they have too many good players."

UH opens the second round of Big West play shooting for its second straight road win, but it had to travel a long way for a shot at it. The Rainbow Warriors split up a rare stretch of four consecutive road games, electing to return home for two days of classes following a 78-73 win at UC Santa Barbara last Saturday.

The ‘Bows arrived back in Los Angeles late Tuesday night and got in a practice at Riverside’s 2,750-seat SRC Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

In the UCSB game, it was not Hawaii’s youth but its upperclassmen who brought home success. UH got big performances from its three senior captains and junior Christian Standhardinger (31 points, 16 rebounds) in picking up the team’s first road win of the season in five tries.

Senior Jace Tavita had eight assists against three turnovers at point guard, helping settle — for now, anyway — weeks of uncertainty at the position. Freshmen Manroop Clair and Ozren Pavlovic also received opportunities as the ‘Bows’ primary ball-handler.

"(Coach Gib Arnold) challenged us, the seniors, with 10, 11 games left to take ownership of the team," said Tavita, the league assist leader at 5.1 per game. "This is our last hurrah, you could say, me, Vander (Joaquim) and Hauns (Brereton). Just to lead, play as hard as you can and bring it every night and everyone else will follow."

Brereton emerged from a prolonged slump with 16 points, his highest output since the season opener, and Joaquim posted his seventh double-double of the season.

"I think those are going to be the guys who need to continue to do that," Arnold said. "Those are my older guys, those are my captains. You look to them for leadership on the floor. And we’re going to need to get it out of them. They responded to that challenge very well against Santa Barbara, and they’re going to need to do it again on Thursday."

That means freshman forward Isaac Fotu (10.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg) might come off the bench again. The UCSB game ended a 12-game starting streak for him.

"To me, he’s going to continue to play as one of our top producing players," Arnold said. "He’s one of the guys who plays the most minutes, whether he’s in there for the jump ball (or not)."

UC Riverside is not eligible for postseason play this year due to academic issues. It ranks at the bottom of the league in scoring and in free-throw, 3-point and overall field-goal percentages. It turns the ball over nearly as much as UH does.

Yet all that doesn’t seem to matter much in regard to the Highlanders’ competitiveness. They’ve played Big West teams tough, most notably in taking league leader Long Beach State to overtime on Jan. 17. Their 16-point loss to UH was their most lopsided in league play.

"These kids have faced some obstacles, but they’ve stayed together and we feel like we’re playing a little bit better," Wooldridge said.

Jawato has cooled off since his career night, but is still third in Big West 3-point shooting at .457.