Aaron Valdes went out. The rest of the Rainbow Warriors went all-in.
Minus its leading scorer, Hawaii got a huge lift from reserves Isaac Fleming and Sheriff Drammeh, among others, and UH survived for a 65-57 win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Fleming scored a career-high 22 points and the true freshman Drammeh embodied the intangible plays UH needed to make to come out on top, taking two charges and generally harassing the Gauchos into mistakes.
A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 6,323 roared as the Rainbows (13-2 overall) got off to a 2-0 start in BWC play, maintaining their best start to a season overall since 2001-02, the last time they made the NCAA Tournament.
UH went 9-1 on its 10-game homestand and now looks to the road, where it is 0-1 this season. The Rainbows play at UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton this week.
Saturday’s matchup became a larger-than-expected hurdle. Valdes exited scoreless just four minutes in with a toe injury and did not return, cutting short a wing matchup with UCSB’s Michael Bryson, the leading scorer in the conference, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“Just staying disciplined, sticking to the game plan and just believing in ourselves,” Fleming said of the winning strategy. “We didn’t say too much about (Aaron). We just knew we had one guy down and we were just ready for the next player to step up. And Sheriff came up with positive minutes, huge charges and a big shot in the corner in the first half.”
Little came easy as both teams shot under 40 percent. UH trailed by a point at the half, 28-27. There wasn’t much offensive rhythm throughout, but the Rainbows made the late plays to come out on top.
“Just gutsy. Gutsy win,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “This team has been handling adversity on and off the court pretty well. You never know when certain things will hit you, too. Valdes, right off the bat, first couple of minutes. That can rock you a little bit.”
Ganot said of Valdes’ status: “I think it’s wait and see. … Very pleased with his attitude. He wanted to stay in, but it became clear that it wasn’t the smart thing to do.”
Forward Stefan Jankovic compensated and muscled his way to 19 points and nine rebounds. His basket inside on a feed from Fleming with 41 seconds left was instrumental during a 7-0 run to close out the game.
UCSB (6-8, 0-1 BWC) drew within 58-57 with 3:55 to play on a 3 by Gabe Vincent, but the Gauchos would not score again. There were some key Gauchos turnovers late among their 19 for the game, as UH profited 23-10 in points off giveaways.
The UH backcourt of Roderick Bobbitt and Quincy Smith combined to shoot 2-for-19, but they also collaborated on eight assists against two turnovers. Smith had six steals.
With Valdes out, Ganot turned to Fleming and Drammeh to light a fire in the first half and keep it stoked. Drammeh did, forcing a turnover on Vincent, hitting a baseline jumper and taking a charge on Bryson. It helped UH to a 25-19 lead late in the period.
“That’s just what I have to do to help the team win,” the wiry Drammeh said.
Fleming said of Drammeh’s charge-taking ability: “He’s excellent at it. I ask him some days in practice, ‘How do you take charges?’ Because I don’t like throwing my body out there like that. It’s real brave.”
UCSB closed the half on a 9-2 run, capped with a Vincent corner 3 with 29.3 seconds left. The Rainbows had a chance to go into the half with a lead, but could not get a shot off in time.
Fleming got the start in Valdes’ stead to open the second half and responded with 3-pointers from both corners for a 36-33 ’Bows lead. Smith followed it up with a rare 3.
UCSB, which beat UH at the Sheriff Center the past two years, refused to go away as Vincent (team-high 17 points) shot 5-for-9 on 3s.
Fleming kept UH ahead by a narrow margin, first with a jab-step corner triple, then with a Euro-step take to the basket for a 55-52 lead.
“I’d been warned about Fleming hitting big shots,” UCSB coach Bob Williams said. “I felt like we couldn’t quite contain them.”
Drammeh took another big charge, drawing Vincent’s fourth foul with 2:22 to play.
The freshman grabbed the rebound off his own 3-point miss and got fouled with 1:29 to play, but missed both foul shots, and the UH lead remained 59-57.
Jankovic’s key hoop came late when Fleming drove inside and passed off to him to beat the shot clock.
Bryson was off on a 3 and the Gauchos had to take fouls. Bobbitt and Fleming made their free throws to secure the victory.
UCSB went to the line 12 times in the first half, but just twice after the break.
BIG WEST
| |
CONFERENCE |
OVERALL |
| |
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| |
Hawaii201.000—132
UC Irvine201.000—135
Long Beach St.201.000—89
CS Fullerton11.500187
CSUN11.5001610
Cal Poly01.0001 1/268
UCSB01.0001 1/268
UC Riverside02.000299
UC Davis02.0002510
Saturday
Hawaii 65, UC Santa Barbara 57
Long Beach State 59, UC Davis 47
CSUN 82, CS Fullerton 61
UC Irvine 84, UC Riverside 68
Thursday
Hawaii at UC Riverside, 5 p.m. (HST)
UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly
CSUN at UC Davis
UC Irvine at Long Beach State
HAWAII 65, GAUCHOS 57
GAUCHOS (6-8, 0-1 BWC) MINFG-AFT-ARAPFPTS
Childress282-82-23436
Vincent375-122-242417
Kupchak232-40-03034
Bryson375-126-6101116
Beeler181-30-24052
Blackmon20-10-00000
Taylor130-10-00300
Hart0+0-00-00000
Smith212-60-05014
Brewe213-62-25048
Team 5
TOTALS20020-5312-1439102157
RAINBOW WARRIORS (13-2, 2-0) MINFG-AFT-ARAPFPTS
Bobbitt401-104-47416
Smith261-90-20413
Thomas213-61-38037
Valdes40-10-00000
Jankovic319-141-292319
Fleming297-135-542322
Tummala191-40-01113
Jovanovic91-10-03012
Drammeh211-31-41023
TEAM 4
TOTALS20024-6112-2037131565
Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; r: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.
Halftime — UC Santa Barbara 28,
Hawaii 27
3-points goals — UC Santa Barbara 5-20 (Vincent 5-9, Brewe 0-1, Kupchak 0-1, Childress 0-3, Bryson 0-6). Hawaii 5-25 (Fleming 3-7, Tummala 1-4, Smith 1-5, Jankovic 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Valdes 0-1, Drammeh 0-2, Bobbitt 0-4). Steals — UC Santa Barbara 5 (Bryson, Childress, Kupchak, Smith, Vincent). Hawaii 9 (Smith 6, Fleming 2, Bobbitt). Blocked shots — UC Santa Barbara 5 (Bryson 2, Beeler, Brewe, Vincent ). Hawaii 5 (Jankovic 2, Jovanovic 2, Bobbitt). Turnovers — UC Santa Barbara 19 (Bryson 5, Vincent 4, Beeler 3, Childress 3, Brewe, Hart, Kupchak, Smith). Hawaii 12 (Fleming 4, Jankovic 4, Bobbitt 2, Jovanovic, Thomas). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Tom Nally, Martin Cichocki, Phil White. A— 6,323.
