Like a flash flood, UC San Diego seemingly came out of nowhere Thursday night to devastate Hawai’i, 74-63, in stunning Big West Conference men’s basketball action.
A sparse crowd of 1,370 in SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center braved the outside elements to watch Tyler McGhie score a game-high 24 points and former UH Hilo standout Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones add 16 points and nine rebounds to help the Tritons improve to 18-4 overall and 8-2 in league play. Akira Jacobs, Kody Williams and Ryan Rapp each scored 11 points to lead the Warriors, who dropped their third straight game to fall to 12-9, 4-6.
Hawai’i led 29-16 late in the first half only to see UCSD close it to 34-33 at the break, and then stretched the lead to 47-38 with 13:35 remaining in the game, only to see the Tritons respond with an astonishing 22-3 run to go in front 60-50 less than five minutes later.
The sudden and overwhelming turn of events left Warriors coach Eran Ganot initially speechless at the start of his usual postgame press interview.
“Give UCSD credit, I think they’re really connected,” Ganot said. “They’re a team that has a lot of continuity right now, there’s something we can learn from them. The connected handling, composure, runs … This game was about the same stuff — the vague (part) is the lack of consistency, from game to game, within the game. It’s been the story of the year.
“The specifics are the turnovers. They dominated us in the turnovers.”
UH committed 17 turnovers, and the Tritons outscored the Warriors, 24-11, on points off miscues.
Besides the volume, the timing of the turnovers also hurt. Seven of the 17 turnovers came during the two runs that erased Hawai’i’s biggest leads in each half.
Cold shooting only compounded the problem, as UCSD often turned Warrior misses into defensive rebounds, outlet passes and then transition baskets.
“We missed shots that they treated like a turnover, because we didn’t have anybody back,” Ganot said. “How often do you see our team just not have anybody back? How many times do you see a good team not have anybody back? Good teams … there will be (opponent) runs, but they limit runs, and they extend theirs. You could feel the air drop out a little bit, but it shouldn’t.
“(It should be) ‘Hey, give them credit, we gotta get back to work, we gotta execute.’ “
True freshman point guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, who made his first start of the season, said it came down to crucial lapses at the wrong times.
“I think we just had some mental lapse, nothing to do on the coach or anything like that,” said Hunkin-Claytor, who finished with four points, four assists, three rebounds, three steals and two turnovers. “We had a mental lapse, we gave up easy points, and that started the run.”
Fueling the 22-3 run was McGhie, a 6-foot-5 senior guard who scored nine points in the first half and 15 in the second.
More details to come.