UH reserves step up in win over UC Riverside

RIVERSIDE, Calif. >> No leading scorer? No problem.

Well, not much of one, anyway.

Hawaii played without Aaron Valdes, as expected, because of his turf toe injury. It had a quieter Roderick Bobbitt, who didn’t start, played 32 minutes and missed all seven of his field-goal attempts.

But the Rainbow Warriors were magnificent in the first half and determined down the stretch Thursday, fending off a late challenge from UC Riverside for an 80-71 victory and their first 3-0 start in Big West play since 2012-13.

The ’Bows (14-2 overall) received a career-best 17-point night from Quincy Smith and 15 points apiece from Isaac Fleming (making just his second start of the season), Stefan Jankovic and Mike Thomas, who also grabbed nine rebounds.

“We just looked at it like the next man needed to step up, and we needed to continue to stick with our game plan,” Fleming said.

Some contributions were more subtle than others.

Bobbitt, who missed a couple of practices and joined the team more than a day late on the mainland while attending to some academic matters, had difficulty getting into the flow, which probably affected his shooting. But he and Smith finished the game with 11 assists and two turnovers between them.

“His composure and his ability to affect the game in so many ways” were huge, coach Eran Ganot said. “He’s the floor general. He takes great care of the ball, which is huge on the road.”

Ganot also lauded Sheriff Drammeh and Niko Filipovich, who played 13 and four minutes, respectively. They “just gave us a lift more than anything. Sometimes it’s box score performance. Sometimes it’s just giving us confidence and a belief in themselves, and that’s what you need, especially on the road.”

Ah, yes, the road.

The Student Recreation Center, UC Riverside’s home court, is one of the funkier buildings in the Big West. It’s small, with a capacity of 2,750 — and yes, they did pull out the bleachers in the balcony to accommodate a crowd of 1,596.

And while other teams play in arena atmospheres, the Highlanders’ home is essentially a high school gym on steroids, though not many prep gyms have a DJ on site.

“It’s louder because it’s a little smaller,” Ganot said. “And it’s got kind of an old school feel to it. I spent some time at Saint Mary’s and we had some of that as well. When it gets loud, those places get even louder, and there were times today that it was (really) loud.

“I was happy with the way our guys handled it, with their professional approach.”

Said Fleming: “It’s very different, because you’ve got their fans trash- talking to us and everything. It was a different environment. But we know we’re a disciplined unit.

“We know the type of basketball team we are, and we feel like we can do something special this year.”

It was less noisy in the first half when the ’Bows raced to a 40-27 lead. They were energized, the Highlanders were sluggish, and a 22-12 points-in-the-paint advantage didn’t hurt.

But UCR (9-10, 0-3), which blew a 20-point second-half lead at home a week earlier against Cal State Fullerton, tried to flip the script against Hawaii. The Highlanders chipped away and actually were within five, 59-54 with 7:28 left, after Secean Johnson’s driving lay-in capped a 16-9 run.

Thomas put a damper on that momentum with a 3-pointer from the corner to bump the lead back to eight.

UCR would come within six, 68-62, on freshman DJ Sylvester’s 3-pointer with 2:06 to play, but it was too much of a hill for the Highlanders to climb.

So the ’Bows’ roll continues. Hawaii now has a six-game winning streak and will try to make it seven Saturday at Cal State Fullerton. UH also won a Big West road opener for the first time.

“We just feel like we go into every game and know we’re going to win,” Fleming said. “We don’t even think about losing. It doesn’t cross our minds.

“It just feels good.”