No starting center?
No net-swishing bursts from its best shooter?
No problem for the Hawaii basketball team, which found ensemble production in Saturday night’s 70-63 victory over UC Santa Barbara in the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 4,096 — the second largest for a home game this season — witnessed the Rainbow Warriors’ surge despite being without 6-foot-9 freshman Bernardo da Silva and with Eddie Stansberry’s usually reliable jumper going MIA.
But the ’Bows nullified the Gauchos’ baseline offense and frustrated their deep shooters. The Gauchos missed 13 of their first 14 3-point shots. Their second — and final — trey came with 1.6 seconds left when Max Heidegger heaved a 28-footer while the ’Bows were in basketball’s version of the victory formation.
>> PHOTOS: Hawaii vs. UC Santa Barbara
A rotation of 7-footers filled in for da Silva, who was wearing a medical boot on his left foot and using a three-wheeled chair to move around. Dawson Carper had eight points and seven rebounds.
Mate Colina coaxed UCSB center Amadou Sow into two charging fouls. Sow, an aggressive rebounder and innovative low-post scorer, was limited to 18 minutes because of foul trouble.
And Owen Hulland came off the bench to hit two 3s. It was Hulland’s first appearance of the season and ninth in his two-season UH career. He had been hindered by a foot injury suffered in fall training.
“All three bigs did a nice job,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “Owen? What an entrance. And Dawson was tremendous defensively. He had one of his better games. It was nice to see.”
Stansberry hit one of six shots, and none from beyond the 3-point arc, his specialty. Samuta Avea, the starting wing, made one of three. Avea, who suffered a back ailment in Thursday’s game, played only 10 minutes.
“I don’t know if guys weren’t on, they were just being taken away,” Ganot said. “That’s what we said in the locker room. Eddie and Samuta just being on the floor and the attention they get, opens it up for others.”
And the other ’Bows made use of their opportunities. Power forward Zigmars Raimo, who suctioned eight rebounds, made good on the second 3-point shot of his career. He entered 1-for-14 on 3-pointers in four seasons.
Justin Hemsley scored 10 points, with half coming dramatically. He hit a 3-pointer with a second left on the shot clock in the first half, then followed with a sprint across the baseline for a reverse layup.
And point guard Drew Buggs scored 12 points and matched a career high with 12 assists (against only two turnovers). Buggs again showed his time management, weaving between two defenders for a layup and hitting a step-back jumper. Both baskets came just before the shot clock expired. His 12th assist came on an inbounds play, when he launched a three-quarter-court pass to Justin Webster, who drove in for the layup.
“What else can you say about Drew?” Ganot said. “His floor game, his leadership, big shots in key shots.”
Buggs said: “All credit to my teammates. They made shots. We’ve got great shooters. We’ve got great players all around.”
The ’Bows, who trailed 35-33 at the half, scored the first eight points after the intermission to take control.
“We do everything together,” Ganot said. “We do it as a team. We were pretty balanced for 40 minutes. And we had an impressive result. There’s stuff in the box score. There’s stuff not in the box score. It’s all about winning plays.”
The ’Bows improved to 12-6 overall and 3-1 in the Big West. The Gauchos fell to 12-6 and 1-2.
Correction: An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect attendance figure.
