Loss to Long Beach leaves UH sharing Big West title
DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Rainbow Warrior Stefan Jankovich goes up strong against Long Beach State 49ers Gabe Levin during a game Saturday afternoon at the Walter Pyramid.
LONG BEACH, CALIF. >> In a game of wild swings, Hawaii saw its unbeaten Big West road record come to a stunning end with a 74-72 loss at Long Beach State today.
The Rainbow Warriors overcame an early 13-point deficit, went up by double figures midway through the second half but saw the Beach come back by getting to the free-throw line repeatedly. It resulted in a shared Big West regular-season title with UC Irvine.
UH (24-5, 13-3 BWC) is still the No. 1 seed for next week’s Big West tournament in Anaheim, Calif.
The Rainbows finished the Big West road slate 7-1, still the best mark in program history.
“We just gotta continue to get better, get back to work and just proud of our guys,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “They were basically a possession or two away from going 8-0 on the road for the first time in a long time (since 2005 for a Big West team) and ever, for us.”
With the score tied at 72, the Rainbows had a chance at the go-ahead basket after calling timeout with 35.5 seconds left, but Aaron Valdes’ baseline shot was off and Sai Tummala was called for a foul on the rebound. LBSU’s Travis Hammonds made the go-ahead free throws with 9.3 seconds left.
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UH got the ball to Stefan Jankovic at the top of the arc, but his 3-point try was off the mark.
“I think there’s three or four shots late in the game before that last sequence where, Sai had an open 3. Rod (Bobbitt) had an 8-footer. Then we had a (missed) 2-on-1,” Ganot said. “Look, even in the first half, we were missing some good looks. The reality is, our job is to get good shots and get stops. For that stretch, to take the lead, we were doing that. We’ll look at the last minute again, some things we could’ve done better. Especially the foul situation, putting them to the line. We missed a shot, it was a tie game and we went over their back and put them to the line.”
Nick Faust led LBSU with 19 points, while Valdes had 19 for UH. Bobbitt added 17 points and six assists for UH.
LBSU went 21-for-32 at the foul line, compared to 12-for-16 for UH. In the final 12:17, the 49ers went 17-for-24 at the stripe to UH’s 1-for-2.
22 responses to “Loss to Long Beach leaves UH sharing Big West title”
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Started off slow again, can’t do that come tournament time. Blowing the 11 point lead didn’t help.
NIT invitee UH should do well. They play in a very unimportant minor league conference. Long Beach is not a serious university or team.
Think you should be commenting & supporting in the Donald Trump section of the newspaper not the sports.
Janks has got to step up his game, otherwise they might be gone after 1st round action. Either that or Ganot has got to leave him in instead of pulling him out after his very early foul troubles.
Jankovic is too valuable to spend time on bench by getting himself into unnecessary foul trouble and Hawaii’s not the same team without Fleming. To his credit Bobbitt did well in penetrating the zone to the basket.
They just need to stop complaining about the refs. Its not going to change we have one of the worst refs in college basketball. They need to continue to play smart defense and stop relying on the 3 pt shot or we will be playing in the NIT.
Check the stats. Refs called many more fouls on Hawaii in second half. Opposing coach should have been teed up. Granted UH didn’t play very smart. Lost the one they should have won after winning the one they should have lost. Good luck in the tourney.
They may not be the same team without Fleming but it beats looking at a sulking face on the bench, brings the fans and the team down. Team played hard, nice comeback but to many missed inside shots.
Good game by Valdes; no so good by Tummala. Getting behind early, blowing late game leads, and foul troubles with the Big Men are the “Achilles Heels” of these Bows. Gotta do something about these issues before the BW Tournament starts. Too bad as this game was “in the bag” with 5 mins to go, before the Bows started to get too loose again. Time to put on the “A” game! Go Bows!
Officiating was terrible and inconsistent; last foul on Tummala with 9 seconds left usually doesn’t get called that late in such a physcal game. Refs can’t let them play physical all game then change at the last second. Cost UH the ball back and the game.
Everyone’s going for the ball, bad call!
UH has lost 2 of their last 4 games, both times to teams with 13 or more losses. Unless they win the tournament its the consolation tournament with a six seeding.
Congrats on the title warriors! What a accomplishment! Hoping for automatic bid to the dance.. Win the tourney!
so frustrated with this team, maybe they try too hard sometimes.
also feel like Ganot holds them back on offense at times like he’s
not wanting to show his full hand.
come tournament time run the offense thru most of the players
then if they are behind run the offense thru Jankovic.
You tell em coach.
Was not able to watch the game today but a friend told me the refs juiced the game with so many calls going against UH. Anyone agree?
Sure thing.
Nothing new. UH Football used to be the same and probably still is. I haven’t watch UH sports in awhile. Too much Drama.
Seems that the rep of UH is negative with the officiating. Maybe the Big West needs to alleviate this and UH needs to just play!
24-5. It’s all good. Would have liked UH to win tonight, but the real season begins on Thursday. Win or go home, or the NIT. Whatever happens I don’t think there are many people here that would have predicted a 24-5 season, much less a Big West title. Great job. This team has a lot to be proud of and have made many in Hawaii proud. For those that will insist on posting negative comments, that just shows a lack of class as you come down on “young kids” that are playing for the school and you. They aren’t perfect but they play with their hearts. They deserve the accolades and success. Rip on the team, the coach and the players all you want. The true fans will always support the hometown boys,even those of us that no longer live in the islands. Great job. As always, jimmyhouse67@aol.com.
Season sweep for Long Beach over UH. Hopefully they’ll be in Irvine’s bracket.
they are.