SANTA BARBARA » Isaac Fleming glanced down at the 3-point line and let fly a shot from the corner as he fell into the courtside seats with 1.1 seconds on the clock. The ball went through the hoop and UCSB quickly inbounded and threw a desperation shot as the buzzer sounded.

Hawaii thought Fleming’s shot tied the game at 75 and it was going into overtime at the Thunderdome. But the officials looked at a video replay of the shot and ruled Fleming’s right foot was on the line and the Rainbow Warriors left the court with a 75-74 loss on Saturday before 4,383 at the Thunderdome and an ESPNU audience.

Down by three, Fleming knew what he had to do after Garrett Nevels missed his 3-point attempt from above the free-throw circle.

"I’d seen Garrett Nevels shooting the ball, and as it left his hands, it was coming toward the side of the backboard," Fleming said. "I sprinted across and grabbed the rebound and ran out to the perimeter. I looked down at my feet to make sure I was behind the line and I shot the ball."

When the officials ruled his shot was a 2-pointer, Fleming and the ‘Bows were crushed.

"I’m devastated right now because I felt like my feet were behind the line," said Fleming. "It’s a tough loss. We should have got that one."

Hawaii is now 16-9 and 4-5 in the Big West. UCSB, which played without injured center Alan Williams, is 11-11, 4-4.

Before the crazy finish, Nevels buried a long 3-pointer, but it was waved off because Hawaii coach Benjy Taylor called a timeout with 14.8 seconds left.

"I didn’t know he called timeout," said Nevels, who played a solid game, scoring a team-high 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting.

"I called timeout three seconds before that," Taylor said. "The ref took forever to call it. I didn’t like what we had going; I didn’t think (Nevels) was going to get a shot off, so I called timeout."

The ‘Bows had a 10-point lead after Nevels fed Aaron Valdes cutting into the lane. Valdes was fouled and made one of two free throws to give them a 70-60 lead.

UCSB then caught fire. Nate Vincent and Zalmico Harmon hit consecutive 3-pointers, cutting Hawaii’s lead to 70-66.

On its next possession, Hawaii threw the ball away as the Gauchos’ Michael Bryson anticipated the pass. Mitch Brewe was fouled at the other end and made one of two free throws to make it a three-point game, 70-67.

Hawaii came up empty again and UCSB tied the score on a 3-pointer by John Green with 2:17 to go.

Mike Thomas lost control of the ball while going up for a shot and it bounced off the 30-second clock. Bryson buried a 3-pointer for UCSB to give the Gauchos their first lead of the game, 73-70, with 1:23 left.

"We just stopped doing what got us the lead," said Fleming of the last five minutes of the game. "We got outside of the game plan because we got comfortable with the lead. It was too many 1-on-1s. We should learn from this and always remember to keep our foot on the pedal."

Said Nevels: "We just didn’t make the right plays. We didn’t execute toward the end of the game. We gave it to them more than we lost it."

Taylor felt the pain.

"I feel really bad for everyone involved in the program," he said. "That’s one we should have won. We got to go back to the gym and everyone’s got to get better."

It was unfortunate because Hawaii gave UCSB problems with its pressing and trapping defense most of the game. The ‘Bows had 15 steals and forced 20 turnovers. Roderick Bobbitt had six steals, moving him into second in the UH record book for steals in a single season. Bobbitt has 81. The record is 84, set by Tom Henderson in the early 1970s.

"That’s what we do, we’re a pressing team," Taylor said. "Some of our bigs got a little tired. Our third line of our defense just didn’t protect the rim for us."

Bryson scored 21 points to lead UCSB. Green added 11, as did Vincent, who made a 16-foot straightaway bank shot after fumbling the ball. That basket gave the Gauchos a 3-point lead, 75-72, with 33 seconds remaining.

"That’s a loose ball and a steal we should come up with and we didn’t," Taylor lamented. "They shot 52 percent in the second half. Everything they threw up they made. When you got a team like that down on the road, you got to finish them and we didn’t, so it’s tough."

Hawaii ended up 2-2 on its longest road trip of the year.

SATURDAY

UC SANTA BARBARA75, HAWAII 74

UC IRVINE 56, LONG BEACH STATE 55

UC RIVERSIDE 71, CS FULLERTON 66 (OT)

UC DAVIS 68, CSUN 55

UC SANTA BARBARA 75, HAWAII 74

HALFTIME — HAWAII 37, UCSB 33

3-POINT GOALS — HAWAII 4-18 (SMITH 1-1, JANKOVIC 1-1, WEBSTER-CHAN 1-4, NEVELS 1-6, BOBBITT 0-1, FLEMING 0-2, VALDES 0-3). UCSB 9-18 (BRYSON 4-8, VINCENT 2-4, HARMON 1-1, CHILDRESS 1-2, GREEN 1-3). STEALS — HAWAII 15 (BOBBITT 6, VALDES 4, NEVELS, THOMAS, FLEMING, SMITH, WEBSTER-CHAN). UCSB 6 (BRYSON 2, CHILDRESS, BEELER, VINCENT).  TURNOVERS — HAWAII 15 (BOBBITT 3, JOVANOVIC 3, FLEMING 3, VALDES 2, THOMAS 2, WEBSTER-CHAN, JANKOVIC). UCSB 20 (CHILDRESS 4, GREEN 4, BRYSON 3, HARMON 2, BEELER 2, SMITH 2, VINCENT 1, BREWE, TEAM 1). ASSISTS — HAWAII 12 (BOBBITT 6, FLEMING 3, VALDES 2, WEBSTER-CHAN). UCSB 20 (HARMON 5, BRYSON 5, CHILDRESS 4, VINCENT 2, BREWE 2, SMITH, GREEN). BLOCKED SHOTS — HAWAII 3 (JOVANOVIC 2, WEBSTER-CHAN). UCSB 3 (CHILDRESS, BEELER, VINCENT). TECHNICAL FOULS — HAWAII NONE. UCSB NONE. OFFICIALS — MICHAEL REED, DARYL GELINAS, JEREMY DENTE. A — 4,383.