SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. >> Amadou Sow of UC Santa Barbara had one of those special nights in a college basketball game against Hawaii.
The 6-foot-9 power forward was unstoppable, scoring a career-high 30 points on 12 of 13 shooting to carry the Gauchos to a 76-66 victory over the Rainbow Warriors in a Big West game at the Thunderdome on Thursday night.
The result snapped a four-game winning streak for UH (14-7, 5-2 Big West) and it was the ’Bows’ fourth straight loss in Santa Barbara.
UH was down by six with 2:04 to go, but turnovers and missed shots cost them from making a late comeback.
The ’Bows turned the ball over 10 times in the second half. They had 15 for the game.
“We have been turning it over 10 times a game in the last seven to eight games,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We have 10 alone in the second half, and unforced, really, in critical stretches.
“We want to continue to perform but you can’t overcome that on the road against a team like this.”
Rebounding also was an issue. They were outrebounced 18-7 in the first half and 33-23 for the game.
“Despite the start and the rebounding and some of those turnovers, we had a chance to win this game in the second half,” said Ganot.
“Just execution and rebounding,” said point guard Drew Buggs of the difference in the game. Buggs dished out eight assists, putting him four away from breaking Troy Bowe’s all-time UH assist record of 412.
“We had to do a better job on the defensive glass today,” he continued. “We got outrebounded, made some turnovers and we got some shots that we didn’t make.”
Sow was also a big problem for UH.
It didn’t matter who guarded him on this night. Whether he was posting up on the low block, driving through the paint or shooting behind the 3-point arc, the sophomore couldn’t miss. He was 2-for-2 on 3s and made all four of his free throws.
His first trey — capping a single-handed seven-point run — gave UCSB the lead for good at 56-54. UH had just taken its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Justin Hemsley at the 9:26 mark of the second half.
Sow’s 3 started a 9-0 run that pushed UCSB’s lead to 62-54. He showed that he could pass, too, as he dished off to Matt Freeman to put the Gauchos up by 10, 66-56.
“He’s a good big and our game plan was to try and make it tough for him,” said Buggs. “I think some of the shots he made were tough, but, yeah, he had a good game today.”
Eddie Stansberry, who chased UCSB sharpshooter Max Heidegger all over the court, hit a 3-pointer and then assisted to Zigmars Raimo to pull UH to within five, 66-61.
But Sow took over again. He scored on the dribble in the post and then buried his second 3-pointer to put the Gauchos ahead 71-61.
“We know he can hit some 3s, but that’s not his strength. But he hit them today,” said Buggs.
“Every player on our team basically guarded him,” said Ganot of trying to contain Sow. “To be honest, he’s a good player and we let him play to his strengths and he made us pay for that.
“We just got to be a lot better and, obviously, when you spread the floor, he hit those two 3s that were critical, and that’s a credit to him. He’s a good worker. We have a lot of respect for him and I have a lot of respect for him. He seems like a great kid, too, and he has added that (3-point shooting) element to his game and that makes him tougher to cover.”
Heidegger finished with 13 points and Robinson Idehen added 11 for the Gauchos (15-8, 4-4).
Hemsley led UH with 13 points, Dawson Carper had 11 and Raimo, Stansberry and Justin Webster each scored nine points.
Ganot lauded the defensive effort of Stansberry.
“Chasing guys around can wear you down,” Ganot said. “The other day he was able to still be a factor at both ends. He’s a key player for us. I think his defense is vastly underrated, and there’s some elite guards in our league and he’s one of them.”
UH had a decent night shooting the ball, making 45% from the field (25-for-53) and 35% on 3-pointers (5-for-13).
Thanks to Sow’s hot shooting, UCSB shot 55% from the floor (29-for-52). The Gauchos made only three of 14 on 3-pointers but hit 15 of 16 from the free-throw line.
UH travels to Cal Poly on Saturday. Samuta Avea and Bernardo da Silva, who are both on the trip, have missed three and four straight games, respectively.
