UH ‘D’ suffocates Cal Poly

Late in Wednesday night’s Big West basketball game, the Stan Sheriff Center faithful booed vociferously at the officials for a missed turnover call. It allowed Cal Poly to hit a corner 3 and get within six points of Hawaii, a potentially huge swing.

On UH’s next possession, Mike Thomas calmly gathered in the ball on a missed Sheriff Drammeh 3 and put it home to reassert control with under two minutes left.

The Rainbow Warriors got the 57-45 victory done in front of 3,145 with something they haven’t always shown this season: composure.

“That was on the clipboard the entire game,” said Thomas, who recorded his second straight double-double, 22 points and 11 rebounds. “That word: composure.”

Plus a little defense and rebounding for good measure. UH (11-5, 2-1 BWC) held a second straight opponent under 50 points since giving up 89 in their conference opener at Long Beach State a week ago, and won the boards battle by 11.

“I think for a team to shoot 63 percent and outrebound us by 12, that’s ridiculous,” Thomas said of the LBSU game. “That’s not who we are. So, a lot of us are angry about that. Still are. I am. It’s time to bounce back.”

UH continues its four-game homestand Saturday against UC Santa Barbara (12-4, 1-1), which has enjoyed a resurgent season under a new coach.

The ’Bows bested the Mustangs (6-11, 1-2) in the kind of grind that’s typified the series. Lately, that’s gone UH’s way — six straight.

Thomas shot 7-for-8 from the field (8-for-15 from the line) in notching consecutive double-doubles for the first time in his career. His effort took on added importance with his frontcourt mate Gibson Johnson picking up his fourth foul with 10 minutes to play.

“He did a great job. The best defense against him has always been foul trouble,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “When he plays up in the 30-minute range, he’s a force.

“Mike stepped up, and obviously, we really needed it.”

Bench bigs Ido Flaisher and Zigmars Raimo provided effective spot minutes to help hold the lead, specifically after the Mustangs drew to within their closest of the second half, 39-35, on a spin move by Josh Martin.

The most prolific 3-point shooting team in the Big West — the visitors made an average of 9.25 per game entering the night — left with just three hits in 19 attempts, tying a season low.

Drammeh matched the Mustangs himself by going 3-for-6 from long range.

“We just tried to make their shooters (become) drivers,” said Drammeh, who scored 13. “Close out real hard with a hard hand, don’t let them get a chance to breathe and get a shot up. We have to be there at all times, floor precision and help each other.”

UH held CP to 31.1 percent shooting in the first half (1-for-9 from 3) and 32.1 percent for the game. The best ball-control team in the Big West committed only nine turnovers, but point guard Drew Buggs caused three of them for steals.

Every extra possession mattered, with UH getting outscored 22-3 in bench points.

“You can overcome a lot of things when you defend and rebound,” Ganot said.

The Mustangs, who split a pair of emotional games against projected conference contenders UCSB and Cal State Fullerton last week, seemed unable to muster the energy to turn one of their mini-runs into the lead-seizing variety.

“When you’re down four, six, eight points and you gotta try to make that comeback, it’s just simply harder to shoot the ball,” Cal Poly coach Joe Callero said. “I give them credit, their defense was really good on the perimeter. But at the same time, I thought there were three or four shots … on the perimeter or interior, that I thought we had opportunities to knock down and failed to do that.”

Guard Victor Joseph led the visitors with 11 points, while the Mustangs’ other top threat, Donovan Fields, was held to eight on 3-for-11 shooting.

Cal Poly never took a lead in the first half, but rallied to tie it up at 23. From there UH scored the last six points of the period, thanks in large part to Thomas going up a gear on both ends.

Thomas scored inside and UH took a 29-23 lead at the break.

Drammeh hit a 3 on UH’s second possession of the second half for a nine-point advantage.