Hawaii holds off UC Riverside on road

RIVERSIDE, Calif. >> In Big West Conference men’s basketball this season, down is up, up is sideways and sideways is inside out — as Hawaii’s latest game Thursday night demonstrated.

The Rainbow Warriors built a 20-point halftime lead, then had to survive frenetic pressure late to escape UC Riverside’s Student Recreation Center with their first road win of the season, 72-63, in front of 1,252 people.

Sheriff Drammeh and Jack Purchase each scored 15 points, with Purchase grabbing a career-best nine rebounds, while Brocke Stepteau added 14 points and seven assists as UH (10-11, 4-4 BWC) earned its fourth win in six games.

But the ’Bows tied a season high with 19 turnovers, which the Highlanders (6-13, 4-4) used to score 20 points. Ten turnovers resulted from steals, six from freshman Dikymbe Martin.

“This is a good ballclub that is really good defensively and took it to us a week ago,” UH coach Eran Ganot said in reference to Riverside’s 70-64 win at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The ’Bows almost fell into the same trap by committing eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes, allowing the Highlanders to take a 17-13 lead with 9:19 left in the first half.

But UH recovered big time.

A 19-0 blitz enabled the visitors to move ahead 32-17.

Drammeh scored six points, Purchase contributed five points and two rebounds, and Gibson Johnson had four points and three assists.

Brandon Rosser made the second of two free throws to end UH’s spree, but a 6-0 spurt enabled the ’Bows to end the first half with a 38-18 advantage. Riverside missed its final nine field-goal attempts and shot just 26.9 percent in the half.

“The potential for this team to make a move as we’ve evolved offensively,” Ganot said, “is to get consistent on the defensive end.”

But UH’s consistency evaporated in the second half.

The Highlanders began that half with a 10-0 surge in the first 3:12 before Purchase’s 3-point shot gave UH a 41-28 lead. Nevertheless, the spurt took its toll.

“They made a couple of tough shots to start the second half and we didn’t handle it well,” Ganot said. “We started getting away from moving the ball, sharing the ball, getting better shots, getting to the rim. When we started missing those shots, our defense went away as well.”

The ’Bows extended the margin to 49-31 with 12:30 left, but the hosts used their superior quickness to force turnovers, create fast-break points and narrow their deficit to 64-61 with 1:18 to play on Martin’s 3-point shot.

On the ensuing possession, Stepteau resisted Martin’s intense defense and passed to Johnson for a lay-in that gave UH a 66-61 lead with 51.3 seconds remaining. Then came the game’s two pivotal plays.

Rosser drove the left baseline for a lay-in but committed a charging foul, taken by Johnson, with 36 seconds left. Martin then made a steal with 27 seconds to go, but Secean Johnson missed a 3-point shot, and Purchase secured the rebound with 23 seconds remaining.

Drammeh and Stepteau finished the game by making all six of their free throws in the double bonus during the final 22.1 seconds.

“One of the things we do a good job (on), which helped us, is make free throws,” Ganot said. “We have to make free throws in tight games late. That was the biggest thing that helped us separate.”

Martin led all scorers with 21 points. Teammate Chance Murray, who missed the Highlanders’ win in Honolulu, added 15 points.