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A UC Santa Barbara freshman helped spoil senior night for the University of Hawaii basketball team on Wednesday.
UCSB guard Gabe Vincent shot 8-for-13 from the field, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range, to finish with a season-high 25 points and the Gauchos extended their winning streak against UH to four with a 98-90 win before “white out” night crowd of 5,879 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
UH guard Roderick Bobbitt scored a career-high 26 points on 6-for-10 shooting to lead the Rainbow Warrriors, who fell to 19-12 overall and 7-8 in Big West play and are alone in sixth place in the conference standings.
Stefan Jankovic scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half and Aaron Valdes had 15 before fouling out.
Garrett Nevels, the Rainbow Warriors’ lone senior, finished with seven points in his final regular-season game at the Sheriff Center.
Nevels and junior Brandon Jawato, who is ending his UH career this season due to injuries, were honored in the postgame senior ceremony.
Michael Bryson scored 22 points, forward Alan Williams added 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and UCSB (17-12, 10-5) shot 56.4 percent as a team in posting its highest point total of the season while UH also set a season high for points allowed.
UCSB never trailed and led by as many as 17 in the second half. The Gauchos scored their final 14 points from the free-throw line to hold off a UH rally.
UCSB hit its first five 3-pointers, shot 57.6 percent overall in the first half and took a 49-39 lead into the locker room.
Vincent went 3-for-5 behind the arc in a 14-point first half and Bryson made six of his nine shots from the field.
Jankovic tried to keep pace for UH, but picked up his third foul early in the second half went to the bench with his fourth at the 10:44 mark.
UCSB stretched the lead to 17 on Bryson’s breakaway dunk with 10:07 left and maintained a double-digit cushion until Negus Webster-Chan’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 82-73 with 3:47 remaining.
The Rainbows trailed by eight when Bobbitt hit another 3 with 3 minutes left, but Bryson started UCSB’s run of free throws and the Gauchos finished the game 29-for-36 from the line. UCSB went 23-for-28 in the second half to fend off the Rainbows, who closed to six in the final minute.
UH closes the regular season on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.
