Long Beach State’s Michael Carter III incurred a hand injury, but it was the Hawaii basketball team that felt the pain on Wednesday night.
Carter, a 6-foot-5 guard, hit a free throw with 3.0 seconds to play to boost the Beach to a 50-49 victory before 3,112 in the Stan Sheriff Center.
The third consecutive loss dropped the Rainbow Warriors to 14-9 overall and 5-4 in the Big West. The Beach are 8-17 and 3-6.
The score was tied at 49 when UH point guard Drew Buggs’ pass eluded freshman guard Justin Webster in front of the left sideline with 33 seconds to play.
>> Photo Gallery: Men’s basketball: Hawaii vs. Long Beach State
The Beach worked the ball across mid-court, held it, and then called timeout with 14.7 seconds to play. Carter took the inbounds pass and dribbled toward the top of the key. Jordan Roberts slid over and tried to set a screen on Buggs. Buggs curled under the screen, and confronted Carter. On a previous possession, Webster had stripped the ball away from Carter on a drive to the right side.
“(Webster) went right instead of staying,” Carter said. “I was going right most of the time. They were pushing me more to the right because they knew that’s where I wanted to go. This time, I went left.”
Carter drove to left of the lane, and attempted a jumper. It appeared Buggs had tapped Carter’s right hand on the release. But with his momentum, Buggs maneuvered into Carter, and both fell in a heap. Buggs was called for the foul, and with the ’Bows in the double bonus, Carter went to the line for two free throws.
“I’m not really sure,” Carter said of whether the foul was on the release or the fall. “I felt a little on the hand. But it could have been because I didn’t fall fully before he landed on me.”
Earlier in the half, Carter appeared to sprain his right wrist during a fall. He sprinted to the locker room, received some quick treatment, and returned to the bench. While experiencing discomfort in the closing seconds, he said it did not bother him enough to not focus on the free throws.
Carter made the first free throw to make it 50-49, but missed the second.
UH’s Justin Hemsley sneaked into the lane to snare the rebound, then fired a pass to Webster on the right side. Webster sprint-dribbled up the court, then launched a shot from about 25 feet. The ball was a bank shot that did not deposit into the net as time expired.
“We appreciate the fight to give us a chance late,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “I appreciate our defense and our rebounding. But offensively, we were a nightmare. More than anything, we weren’t ready to go. Offensively, we got some stuff by willing things out of nothing. We weren’t on the same page. I did a horrendous job getting our guys to roll, obviously.”
The ’Bows hit 18 of 54 field-goal attempts, including eight of 25 after the intermission. They missed 19 of 25 shots from behind the 3-point arc.
Eddie Stansberry led the ’Bows with 19 points, and Webster contributed 13. But Webster was one of nine on 3s. Buggs missed all six of his shots and committed five turnovers against two assists.
LBSU’s Drew Cobb, who was assigned to pick up Buggs, said the Beach used the additional practices from the past weekend’s bye to work on defense.
“We locked in and focused on that, on who we wanted to be,” Cobb said. “That’s the identity we wanted to run by in this league. We tried to lock down. Coach (Dan Monson) challenged me and the captains to really hold them accountable on that end of the floor. I think we did a great job.”
It was the ’Bows’ lowest output since being held to 45 points against Illinois State in the 2016 Diamond Head Classic.
