Sheriff Drammeh keys Hawaii’s Big West win over Cal State Fullerton
Senior guard Sheriff Drammeh came off the bench to match his career high of 23 points, keying Hawaii’s Big West-opening 79-68 victory over Cal State Fullerton tonight.
A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,378 saw UH open up a narrow lead after trailing by three at halftime, then bury the outcome with closely spaced triples from Drammeh, Eddie Stansberry and Jack Purchase in the final minutes.
UH (10-5, 1-0 BWC) won its fourth straight game overall heading into its first conference road trip. CSUF (4-11, 0-1) dropped to 0-8 on the road this season.
Drammeh, who’d had a limited role since his one-game suspension in mid-December, surprised by shooting 6-for-11 from the floor, including 4-for-7 on 3s in 30 minutes. Stansberry added 16 points and Purchase had 14 points and 11 rebounds. The three accounted for all of UH’s made 3s (11-for-22).
Fullerton’s Kyle Allman Jr., who scored 40 points on 16-for-19 shooting in a narrow Titans win here last year, was defended closely and held to 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting. Fellow senior guard Khalil Ahmad scored a game-high 24 on 9-for-18 shooting.
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After trailing out of the gates and falling behind 15-9, UH battled back to lead by as many as seven points in the first half.
However, the Titans closed the period strong, going on a 12-2 run going into intermission, capped with Jackson Rowe’s emphatic two-handed baseline dunk with 3.4 seconds left while getting fouled. Rowe shot 4-for-4 in the period for all 10 of his points while Ahmad had 11.
Stansberry’s desperation 3 to beat the shot clock on a busted possession gave UH a 44-41 lead with under 13 minutes to play, which turned out to be the go-ahead score.
Drammeh gave his team a nine-point lead with a pair of free throws. When Fullerton cut it to four, Drammeh hit a 3 to stem the mini-run with 7:20 to play. He followed up with a three-point play on a drive into Allman’s chest — giving the Fullerton guard his fourth foul — for a 58-48 lead with 6:22 remaining.
Drammeh connected on a deep 3 from straightaway, but the Titans kept coming. Ahmad’s free throws cut it to four with 4:19 on the clock and Jamal Smith followed with one more to cut it to 63-60.
Drammeh answered with his fourth 3 with three minutes left. After a Fullerton layup, Stansberry hit one from the corner, plus the foul. Purchase then cashed in from the top of the arc to make it 72-64 with 1:16 left.