Like an ill-fated resolution, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team’s promising seven-game win streak did not last long into the New Year, as the Warriors fell on the road to UC San Diego, 83-73, Saturday night.
A crowd of 1,808 at LionTree Arena watched Bol Dengdit score a game-high 19 points and former UH guard Tom Beattie add 12 points, seven rebounds and eight assists as the Tritons improved to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big West Conference. Senior forward Harry Rouhliadeff scored 16 points and grabbed four boards and Dre Bullock added 15 points, three boards and four assists for UH, which fell to 11-3, 3-1.
A stunning mid-game 17-0 run that turned a 29-26 lead into a 43-29 deficit proved fatal for the Warriors, who could not get closer than the final score the rest of the way.
“Very disappointing,” Hawai’i coach Eran Ganot said in a postgame radio interview on ESPN Honolulu. “Our prep was good, I thought we came out of the gate pretty well … (but) in the general sense we got out-worked, out-fought, lost the boards (rebounding margin) — which we’re really good at — lost the winning plays, which we didn’t lose very often this year at all … and around the rim, those kind of things. We didn’t handle the punch.
“Just a very disappointing performance, and we were exposed in some areas today where, if we are who we think we are, we will use it well to make this better. I wish we could have gotten it done, it was an opportunity, but we did learn some things and we will attack and get better.”
Gytis Nmeiksa drained a mid-range jumper to give the Warriors a 29-26 lead with 3:15 remaining in the first half, but Dengdit answered with eight straight points on a jumper and two 3-pointers, and Beattie added a putback with 49 seconds left to end the half with a 10-0 run and give UCSD a 36-29 lead at the break.
“We’re a really good defensive team and were doing a good job on their motion (offense), but then they crushed us on second-chance (points) and they crushed us on out-of-bounds (plays), which we’re one of the better teams in the country at. Again, all these (things) were a byproduct of they were tougher than us, and that’s very disappointing because that’s a foundation and hallmark of what we do.
“We give them credit, and back to work we go as we’ll learn from it and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
BIG WEST CONFERENCE STANDINGS
UC Irvine 4-0
HAWAI’I 3-1
UC San Diego 2-1
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 2-2
Cal State Northridge 2-2
UC Santa Barbara 2-2
Long Beach State 1-2
UC Davis 1-2
UC Riverside 1-2
Cal State Bakersfield 1-3
Cal State Fullerton 1-3