‘Bows one and done

ANAHEIM, CALIF. » Three times this season, Hawaii came back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to win a Big West Conference game.

The Rainbow Warriors couldn’t do it again with their season on the line.

UH dug itself a nearly bottomless first-half pit — a 22-point divide, tying a season high at halftime — and UC Irvine brushed aside a valiant but fruitless comeback attempt in a 71-60 decision in the Big West Conference tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

UH dropped a season-worst third straight game and lost in its eighth of nine conference tournament games since 2005. Barring an 11th-hour invitation from the CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament, the ‘Bows saw their season end at 17-14.

Several times in the second half, UH got to within 10 or 11 points, but no closer as the Anteaters (19-14) would either make free throws (23-for-31) or hit a big shot.

"Guys did a good job and made a game of it, and cut it to (near) single digits, but we ran out of time," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "We dug too big of a hole. Give UCI credit, but we’re proud of the effort, and they were warriors at the end."

UH’s three seniors performed admirably in what was likely their last game. Center Vander Joaquim scored 16 of his 18 points after the break and grabbed six rebounds with two blocks. Swingman Hauns Brereton tried to be UH’s perimeter offense, scoring 18 with nine rebounds and four assists. Point guard Jace Tavita had all six of his assists in the second half against three turnovers.

"They fought for us tonight," said freshman forward Isaac Fotu, who came off the bench for the first time in five games. "It’s sad to see them go like this if this is the end."

The postgame locker room had that kind of air to it.

"It was sad," said junior forward Christian Standhardinger, who scored 11. "Like somebody died."

Arnold has one season remaining on his contract. At present, UH falls short of achieving several criteria Arnold needed to kick in a one-year extension beyond next year.

The CIT sounded elusive in the postgame press conference.

"We haven’t had any talk about that. We haven’t even discussed it," Arnold said. "We were pretty much set on winning the Big West tournament, and haven’t talked about anything else."

A crowd of about 2,000, split between Irvine and UH fans at the cavernous 18,000-seat Honda Center, was heard from dramatically more on the yellow and black side early as the Anteaters sped to a 24-5 lead with a 17-0 run fueled by transition baskets.

Irvine’s springy center, Big West Defensive Player of the Year Will Davis II, bothered the ‘Bows bigs inside in the first half. He had blocks on consecutive Joaquim takes to the basket and later flushed alley-oops on back-to-back plays late in the first half to make it a 21-point game.

The Anteaters also applied much more ball pressure on the UH guards than in the teams’ last matchup, a 78-72 UH win in Honolulu on Feb. 9.

UC Irvine was seemingly everywhere on the defensive end in the first half. UH hoisted a bevy of forced shots, leading to a 26.5 percent conversion rate in the period and a 44-22 halftime score.

"They double-teamed me and Vander and had somebody on me all the time. They boxed me out," Standhardinger said. "Their game plan was really good."

Irvine’s balanced attack was at its finest on this night. Six Anteaters scored between 10 and 13 points to get them to today’s semifinal matchup against top-seeded Long Beach State.

"We do it as a team, both on offense and defense," Irvine coach Russell Turner said. "That might have been reflected tonight more than any other night."

Hawaii showed fullcourt pressure and renewed energy to open the second half, and rattled off 11 straight points to get back in it. Irvine’s lead was cut in half in less than four minutes.

Their momentum played out, though, and the Anteaters held firm.

The dagger came from Irvine guard Daman Starring with five minutes left. Starring launched an off-balance 3 from well beyond the arc with a hand in his face at the end of the shot clock. It was all net and pushed the Anteaters lead back to 14.

"It was a big shot," Arnold said. "You need shots like that to go for you if you’re going to win. They hit them and we didn’t."

UH shot 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) on 3-pointers, including 1-for-9 as it played catch-up in the second half.

The Anteaters made up a 19-point halftime deficit to win at UC Davis in their regular-season finale and set up the 4-5 matchup against UH.

UH started junior guard Garrett Jefferson over Fotu to help negate some of Irvine’s perimeter quickness. He gave way to freshman Manroop Clair, though, once UH needed shooting to stay in it. Clair, making his first appearance since Feb. 23, shot 2-for-5 on 3-pointers and finished with eight points and two assists in 22 minutes.

Fotu, the Big West Co-Freshman of the Year, was quiet in his reduced role, scoring two points and grabbing two rebounds in 19 minutes.