‘Bows stun Titans

Against all odds, it was Hawaii’s third-string point guard getting buried under a 15-man dogpile.

Garrett Jefferson’s floater at the buzzer touched off a raucous celebration at the Stan Sheriff Center as Hawaii stormed back to stun Cal State Fullerton 90-88 before a crowd of just under 4,000 on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH (8-5 overall) moved to the top of the Big West Conference standings at 2-0, but needed a wild comeback from 11 points down with 5:28 to play to get there.

Jefferson capped the rally by taking an inbounds pass with 4.9 seconds left. The Titans picked him up just inside halfcourt, but he weaved slightly as he crossed the 3-point line and flipped it up from about 10 feet out. It was all net as the horn sounded — his first basket of the game — and his teammates proceeded to pile on him near midcourt.

"It was fun," the understated Jefferson said of the celebratory scrum. "It’s a great team win for us."

Just a few minutes earlier, it seemed impossible against a quick, opportunistic team like the Titans (7-6, 1-1), who had 14 steals and a 31-15 advantage on points off turnovers. It was UH’s second comeback win of league play after some late heroics helped them pull out last Saturday’s 74-71 win over Cal State Northridge.

"It keeps us confident," said Jefferson. "We’ll remember that no matter how much time is left on the clock, the game’s never over, so we just kept fighting."

UH has little more than a day to prepare for UC Riverside (4-10, 1-1), a surprise 65-64 winner at Northridge on Thursday.

Freshman forward Isaac Fotu kept UH’s much larger lineup in the game with 20 of his career-best 29 points in the first half. Juniors Christian Standhardinger and Brandon Spearman added 15 points apiece.

The Titans’ vaunted backcourt of D.J. Seeley (22 points) and Kwame Vaughn (26 points) had UH on its heels all night. The Titans waited for opportune times to snatch up several lazy passes by the much bigger ‘Bows and their sometimes-shaky backcourt.

Yet Fullerton had its four-game winning streak snapped as UH closed the game on a 21-8 run.

"It was a wild finish, but that’s the way you want to finish games," Fullerton’s interim coach, Andy Newman, said. "Teams making plays instead of making mistakes, and that’s what it was. … That’s what makes basketball fun and an exciting sport. That’s why we all do it."

UH countered the quickness with superior size against a team that tops off at 6-feet-7. Fotu capitalized with 13-for-16 shooting and grabbed nine boards, in part thanks to attention given to center Vander Joaquim (six points, 12 rebounds). Both teams shredded the net; UH shot 56.3 percent to Fullerton’s 51.4 percent.

"Now that is a basketball game … that was two teams throwing blows and playing hard. I give CSF and their coach, Andy, all the credit," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "They spread us out and did what you needed to do against a bigger team. Their guards are phenomenal. … we had our hands full all night."

Vaughn hit a deep 3-pointer as an exclamation point on his night for an 80-69 lead, and it seemed Fullerton would be the one claiming early dominion at the top of the Big West standings along with Cal Poly.

"We knew if we kept playing defense, getting stops, one stop at the time, we could chip away at their lead, and that’s what we did," said Fotu, whose previous career best was 18 against Chaminade.

UH gave the Titans a taste of their own formula, forcing consecutive turnovers. Standhardinger got a putback, Hauns Brereton hit a baseline fadeaway and Brandon Jawato (11 points) hit a 3-pointer to make it a four-point game with 4:20 left.

Jawato missed two free throws but hit a corner 3 on UH’s next trip down to make it a three-point margin.

Vaughn hit two at the line. This time freshman Manroop Clair, who got the start at the point over Jace Tavita, came up big with a corner 3 at the end of the shot clock, making it 84-82 with 1:30 to go.

Fullerton’s tallest player, Deuce Johnson, missed two free throws and Standhardinger nailed a 3 from the top for UH’s first lead since the start of the second half.

Jawato hit a free throw but missed the second and fouled Seeley on the rebound. Against a deafening crowd, Seeley missed one and hit the second to make it 86-85.

The Titans took a foul with 17.3 seconds left and Clair hit both free throws for a three-point lead.

Coming out of a Fullerton timeout, Seeley sprung free for his fifth 3-pointer of the game to tie it at 88 with 4.9 seconds left.

UH had no timeouts, but Arnold said he wouldn’t have called one in that situation anyway, to keep the defense from getting set in a situation UH calls "Home Run." The Fullerton defense had backed off to the other side of the court, and the other UH players spread to the wings, allowing Jefferson time and space to get a head of steam.

"Garrett (is) kind of our third-string point guard, but he’s run that play 100 times in practice and he did what he’s supposed to do," Arnold said.

Fotu had the first five baskets of the game for UH, all point blank. He scored his 20th point of the half on a quick look from Tavita against Fullerton’s zone defense for a 40-37 ‘Bows lead.

But Seeley hit his fourth 3-pointer of the period to tie the score at 40 going into halftime.