{"id":2187,"date":"2025-01-03T12:03:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T22:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/?p=2187"},"modified":"2025-01-03T14:18:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T00:18:30","slug":"uc-santa-barbara-holds-off-warriors-64-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/03\/uc-santa-barbara-holds-off-warriors-64-61\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Santa Barbara holds off Warriors, 64-61"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Hawai’i guard Ryan Rapp scored 10 points — all in the second half — to help the Warriors stay within striking distance before finally falling in their Big West Conference home opener. (Brandon Flores Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The margin of error in Big West Conference men’s basketball is usually very thin, and that certainly was on display Thursday night in visiting UC Santa Barbara’s narrow 64-61 victory over Hawai’i.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A vocal and spirited crowd of 3,187 in SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched dynamic point guard Stephan Swenson pour in a game-high 21 points and dish out seven assists to lead the Gauchos, who improved to 9-5 overall and 1-2 in league play. Senior center Tanner Christensen scored 15 points and grabbed five boards and senior forward Gytis Nemeiksa added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors, who fell to 8-5, 0-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UH overcame a 51-38 deficit midway through the second half and cut it to 62-61 on Nemeiksa’s baseline putback with 3.8 seconds remaining, but Swenson was immediately fouled after catching the ensuing inbounds pass and swished two free throws with 3.3 ticks on the clock, and Nemeiksa’s 26-foot attempt from near the Warriors’ bench glanced off the side of the rim as time expired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tough loss,” Hawai’i coach Eran Ganot said. “Give them credit — they are potent offensively. I thought our defensive numbers were really good, (but) I didn’t think we were really good defensively in the first half. We were lucky. They made five 3’s, and they could have made more … In the second half I was really proud of our team. We had a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You just don’t want to put yourself in those positions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teams went toe-to-toe and pretty much matched each other basket-for-basket in the game’s first nine minutes, which was played non-stop without any media timeouts. UCSB then used an 8-0 run to take a 20-14 lead with 8:51 remaining in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Warriors clawed back and eventually drew to 29-28 on Tom Beattie’s short jumper in the lane with 55 seconds left, but Swenson scored on a driving layup at the halftime horn to push the lead to 31-28. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gauchos made 5 of 15 attempts from 3-point range in the first half, compared to 3 of 9 for UH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was miscommunication, (while) running back in transition,” said Warriors guard Ryan Rapp. “We knew going into the game that they like to get out and run and shoot transition 3’s. We had been working on it all week, and I don’t think we executed the scout well enough in that area.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapp, a starting wing who went scoreless in the first half, tied the game at 36-36 and then sank two free throws to give Hawai’i a 38-36 lead with 15:44 remaining. But Ben Shtolzberg answered with a floater to ignite a 15-0 run capped by Cole Anderson’s driving layup which pushed UCSB ahead, 51-38, at the midway mark through the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surge was highlighted by three straight 3-pointers by Shtolzberg, Swenson and Jason Fontenet II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When they went on that run, they hit three back-to-back transition 3’s, and that really got them going,” Rapp said. “It’s a game of runs, we needed to limit their runs, but that’s what really killed us in the second half. But I’m proud of how we fought back. We could have just laid down, but that’s not how we play here at Hawai’i.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nemeiksa finally broke the six-minute scoring drought with a layup to spark a 14-4 run culminating in Rapp’s jump hook that made it 55-52 with 5:17 still remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kody Williams missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer from the right wing with 6 seconds left, but Nemeiksa grabbed the rebound and made the 8-foot putback from the left baseline to make it 62-61 with 0:03.8 on the clock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swenson was quickly fouled and then made two free throws to push the lead to 64-61.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He’s a really good player, he’s a grad transfer, he’s experienced and knows what he’s doing,” Rapp said of Swenson, who helped lead Stetson to its first NCAA Tournament berth last season. “I think we could have done a better job in our defensive wall … some of us, including myself, we were ball-watching a little bit too much. When he would drive, we’d watch him rather than following our man. I think we could do a better job there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But he’s a really good player, and he helped them get the win tonight.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Warriors will close out their six-game homestand on Saturday with another Big West game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big West Conference Standings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UC Riverside 3-0
UC Irvine 2-0
UC San Diego 2-0
Cal State Northridge 2-1
UC Davis 2-1
Long Beach State 2-1
Cal State Bakersfield 1-2
UC Santa Barbara 1-2
HAWAI’I 0-2<\/strong>
Cal Poly 0-3
Cal State Fullerton 0-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The margin of error in Big West Conference men’s basketball is usually very thin, and that certainly was on display Thursday night in visiting UC Santa Barbara’s narrow 64-61 victory over Hawai’i. A vocal and spirited crowd of 3,187 in SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched dynamic point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2227,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions\/2227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}