Salvaging a road trip split and — more importantly — staying close in the race for first in the Big West Conference standings, Hawai’i held off Long Beach State, 89-82, in Saturday matinee action.
A crowd of 1,368 at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid watched Dre Bullock score a game-high 26 points and grab nine rebounds and Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson add 19 points and three boards as the Warriors improved to 16-5 overall and 8-3 in league play. Shaquil Bender and Petar Majstorovic each scored 22 points to lead The Beach, which fell to 8-15, 4-7.
After UH took an early 6-5 lead, Long Beach State answered with a 3-pointer by Bender to ignite a 17-7 run to put The Beach in front, 22-13, with 11:19 remaining in the first half. The Warriors rallied back with a 13-2 surge and took a 26-24 lead after two free throws by Harry Rouhliadeff with 6:47 left, and ended the period with an 8-0 run capped by Bullock’s layup right before the horn to take a 36-31 lead into the break.
Hawai’i held onto it throughout the second half, extrending the margin to 68-53 after Johnson’s 3-pointer with 8:16 remaining, although The Beach did threaten with a late 12-3 run that closed it to 83-82 on two free throws by Majstorovic with 54 seconds on the clock.
But Bullock answered with a jumper 26 seconds later to make it 85-82, and Long Beach State suffered a turnover and miss on its next two possessions, and Bullock and Johnson converted four free throws down the stretch to close out the victory.