Guard Deuce Turner hit the go-ahead 3 with 2:09 to play and Stephan Swenson made a key steal to boost the UC Santa Barbara basketball team to a 76-72 victory over Hawaii today in the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif.

With 2:16 to play, Ryan Rapp made two free throws to give the Rainbow Warriors a 70-69 lead.

Turner got the ball on the right wing, pump-faked, dribbled to his right and swished a 3 to put the Gauchos ahead 72-70. The Gauchos would not trail again.

With 26 seconds left, UH’s Tom Beattie tried to inbound at midcourt. Swenson made the steal and was fouled by UH center Tanner Christensen. Swenson made both free throws to extend the margin to 74-70 with 20 seconds left.

Christensen sliced the deficit to two points with a layup with 7.9 seconds left. Christensen was fouled on the play, and it appeared he tried to ricochet his and-1 free throw with the hope of creating an offensive rebound. But UCSB’s Max Murrell rebounded, was fouled and hit two free throws to complete the scoring.

Christensen, often facing single coverage in the low post, scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds. But the ’Bows struggled against the Gauchos’ presses and traps in the first half. At one point, the Gauchos scored 15 unanswered points for a 20-7 lead in the first half.

The ’Bows had difficulty maintaining possessions. They had 20 turnovers, including 12 in the first half.

The ’Bows fell to 13-11 and 5-8 after losing both games in this two-game road trip.