Hawaii fends off UC Davis, first in Big West

Basketballs caromed off players’ faces. Goggles were adjusted. Voices were raised. Technical fouls were issued.

When the dust settled Saturday night following Hawaii’s most emotionally charged game of the season, there was a new leader in the Big West Conference.

UH, picked to finish fifth in the preseason, is the only one-loss team remaining in the league after the Rainbow Warriors fended off UC Davis 77-72 in front of 4,868.

The Rainbow Warriors (13-5, 4-1), who won their fourth straight since dropping their conference opener at Long Beach State, can pad their record at home Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. The Titans (4-2) lost at LBSU (4-2), meaning the battle between UH and UCD (12-7, 3-2) was to settle first place at this still-early stage of league play.

“It’s something we’ve been working toward the whole year, the whole summer, the whole preseason,” said Jack Purchase, who scored 21 points off the bench on 6-for-9 shooting. “We gotta keep it rolling now.”

Two players who’ve been up-and-down — often down — offensively this season, Purchase and Leland Green, helped their team overcome a stiff challenge. Purchase spelled team leader Mike Thomas, who went out quickly with foul trouble. Green stepped into the starting lineup for the injured Brocke Stepteau and delivered 11 points, including a huge 3-pointer with a minute and change remaining.

Sheriff Drammeh fouled out with 14 points and Gibson Johnson added 11. Reserve guard Brandon Thomas played a season-high 28 minutes.

“Really proud of our guys. You hear us talk a lot about next man up, every man up,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “It’s not on one guy to carry the load. You need it from everybody. Everybody’s gotta do a little better, and they did.”

On the opening possession, UH turned it over unforced for a Chima Moneke transition bucket. But UH made it difficult on Davis’ conference player of the year candidate from there, limiting him to 14 points, nine rebounds and a season-high nine turnovers. It was part of a season-high 13 steals for UH — four players had three apiece — and season-high 23 turnovers for Davis (12-7, 3-2).

The ’Bows went to zone after Thomas went out early with two fouls.

“The zone helped us, mixing up defenses helped us,” Ganot said. “We did a good job getting him (Moneke) off his ideal spots, and then we brought support. We do it as a team, or we’re not gonna do it.”

Three technical fouls were issued — to Davis coach Jim Les, Purchase and Drammeh.

UH led 39-35 after an emotionally charged first half. Purchase scored 14 points in the period on four 3-pointers but had to check out just before halftime when he picked up his second foul on a screen. Purchase jawed at T.J. Shorts II for flopping and was assessed a tech.

Drammeh’s came when he threw the ball off Moneke’s face while falling out of bounds in the second half. Moneke, stunned, had to adjust his sports goggles.

“I thought they played harder than us,” Les said. “I thought we started the game with a good pace and as the aggressor, but when they responded to our aggressiveness … there were some loose balls, 50-50 balls, they got on the floor and we tried to bend over and pick them up.”

“Hard to come out on the road and turn it over 23 times. We still gave ourselves a chance. When they made a run, we have to be mature. We tried to have a seven-point shot, one pass or no pass.”

Point guard Shorts (21 points) scored 10 of Davis’ 11 points during a late stretch to come within three.

Green’s huge triple gave UH some breathing room. Davis went to taking fouls and got within three again, despite 21-for-26 foul shooting by the Rainbows. They all but sealed the win when Johnson leaked out against the Aggies’ desperate press and converted a three-point play with 28.8 seconds left. The Aggies hit a 3 to counter plus another layup by Siler Schneider (16 points), but Purchase’s free throws with 12.8 seconds left iced it.

Stepteau missed his first game of the season after fracturing the middle finger on his right (shooting) hand in a one-point win against UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 13. Ganot said he was “a great assistant coach this week” and is hopeful he will return for Fullerton.