FULLERTON, Calif. » Surfing is not the only sport in which participants can ride a wave, as Hawaii proved in Big West Conference basketball Saturday night.
UH built a 10-point lead in the first half, fell behind by 12 in the second half, surged ahead by four with less than three minutes to play, then avoided a wipeout to earn a 77-75 win over Cal State Fullerton in front of an overflow homecoming crowd of 3,978 at Titan Gym.
With the win, Hawaii (13-9, 7-4) remained one game behind second-place Pacific and a half-game in front of fourth-place UC Irvine in the Big West standings.
The victory also extended the Rainbow Warriors’ longest road winning streak in nine years to three games. Not since January 2004 — when UH won at San Jose State, Southern Methodist and Louisiana Tech — has Hawaii won as many as three successive road games.
A loud and colorful crowd — bedecked in orange shirts and brandishing orange foam fingers and sparkly electric-blue pom-poms — enhanced the atmosphere.
"This was like the Super Bowl," said UH center Vander Joaquim, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and added 10 rebounds.
Joaquim made his biggest impact, however, on defense. The 6-foot-10 Angolan became the focal point of the Rainbows’ 2-3 zone defense in the second half.
"They’re a very good 3-point-shooting team," forward Isaac Fotu said of the Titans. "We tried to deny the outside passes, the wings, and force them to Vander, who did a great job blocking shots and changing shots."
Fotu contributed 13 points and five rebounds, prompting praise from forward Christian Standhardinger.
"We’re glad to have Vander and Fotu in crunch time," said Standhardinger, who had 18 points, eight rebounds and four steals. "They seem to have the magic hands."
Standhardinger created his own offensive magic with 12 points in the first 15 minutes, 19 seconds as UH built a 33-23 advantage with 4:10 left in the first half.
But Fullerton (11-11, 4-6) used a 16-2 spree to take a 39-35 halftime lead. Then the Titans’ Sammy Yeager, ranked eighth nationally in 3-point shooting, began the second half with eight points in the first 3:36 as Fullerton extended the margin to 53-41 with 15:28 to play.
"We’ve been there before," Fotu said of the large deficit. "We just said, ‘Don’t worry. Don’t panic. Just play our game.’ "
The Titans led 62-52 with 8:19 left when Joaquim scored six points during an 8-0 spurt that drew UH to within 62-60.
Kwame Vaughn’s lay-in extended Fullerton’s lead to 64-60, but another 8-0 spree — including successive 3-point shots by Hauns Brereton and Brandon Spearman — put the ‘Bows ahead 68-64 with 2:40 remaining.
Fullerton closed within 72-71 with 1:16 left, and had a chance to regain the lead when Joaquim’s 3-point attempt missed everything with 56.9 seconds remaining. But Standhardinger forced a steal with 34.1 seconds to play, and Joaquim ended the possession with two free throws to give Hawaii a 74-71 lead with 29.6 seconds to go.
After the Titans’ D.J. Seeley made a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left came the pivotal play of the game: The ‘Bows called a timeout just before Spearman would have committed a five-second inbound violation, and retained possession to ensure the win.
Seeley, the Big West’s second-leading scorer, finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Vaughn, the third-leading scorer, amassed a game-high 19 points. Yeager added 17 points.
"I think we are where we need to be now," Joaquim said. "We need to keep the momentum to the end of the season."
"Fotu" special for last four BWC home games
UH is offering a discounted ticket package for the last four men’s basketball Big West home games, starting Thursday against league leader Long Beach State.
The $42 "Fotu," or four-for-two, package is a play on freshman forward Isaac Fotu’s name. The remaining BWC home games are UC Irvine on Feb. 9, UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 28 and Cal Poly on March 2.
Five-hundred upper-level seats are available with the promotion between noon Monday to noon Thursday. Tickets are available online at etickethawaii.com or at the UH ticket office at 956-4482.
