Hawaii caps AC Carter Night with dramatic overtime win over UC Santa Barbara

HONOLULU – A night to remember.

Playing for a season-high audience of more than 8,000 fans and some of the greatest names in program history, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team outlasted UC Santa Barbara inside Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday evening in overtime, 78-75.

“This one is one that I’ll never forget,” said head coach Eran Ganot after the win. “I cannot thank the power of the Hawai’i fanbase for their love and passion and emotion that they showed in there.”

Celebrating program legend Anthony ‘AC’ Carter’s jersey retirement, Hawai’i icons spanning from the 1970s through the 1990s and into the 21st century returned to the islands for a weekend celebration fit for a superstar.

University of Hawai’i legend Anthony Carter poses with a framed version of his retired jersey alongside UH athletics director Matt Elliott. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN

It sparked an overwhelming sense of pride in the program as members from the over 100-plus year history of the program gathered in the same place to celebrate Rainbow Warrior royalty together. That program-wide togetherness became a rallying cry for the UH coaching staff to the team entering the weekend after suffering the first two-game losing streak of the season.

After beautiful renditions of the national anthem and Hawai’i Pono’i from Henry Kapono and the City of Refuge Christian Church sparked up the noise inside the Stan Sheriff Center, the teams got right to business trading stops and a few early buckets as the Gauchos took an early 7-5 lead through five minutes.

Ike Finlinson started to wake up the Rainbow Warriors on offense, scoring all nine of his points in the first 12 minutes of action to push the hosts ahead by the under-eight-minute media timeout, 22-15.

After being held to a 2-for-13 stretch through the middle of the opening stanza, UC Santa Barbara found the offensive fuel over the final seven minutes as they made six of their final 10 shots from the floor, including back-to-back threes with under a minute remaining to take a 32-30 lead at the break.

“Lapses are killers,” said junior guard Isaiah Kerr when asked about the end of the opening frame for Hawai’i. “It’s simple stuff where we’re kind of beating ourselves, and so that was the conversation at halftime. We’re playing good defense, sometimes we beat ourselves and we had to make that change.”

The Gauchos continued to gain separation when play resumed, scoring the first six points out of the locker rooms to extend out to a 38-30 lead over the Rainbow Warriors. Seniors Dre Bullock and Harry Rouhliadeff took turns getting the offense restarted for UH, scoring the next seven points to pull the hosts back within one, but back-to-back buckets by Aidan Mahaney put the visitors back up by a handful.

Kerr made the change he spoke about wanting to see, sparking Hawai’i on both ends after re-entering the game by helping cool off the increasingly warm Mahaney with his defense and knocking down a triple and a couple of free throws as the Rainbow Warriors rallied ahead of the Gauchos with under nine minutes left to play, 52-51.

Hawaii G Isaiah Kerr closely guards UCSB’s Aidan Mahaney. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN

“I said to [Isaiah Kerr] after the game, I have never seen a player play as hard as I did see him tonight,” Ganot shared. “What happened is a rising tide lifts all ships, and Dre then took it to another level.”

After UC Santa Barbara shoved back ahead by a handful with 5:03 remaining in regulation, Kerr and Bullock willed the Warriors back before Harry Rouhliadeff tied it twice in the final minute to send the game to overtime.

Kerr began the extra period with a 3-pointer from the right wing to ease the nerves of the 8,103 fans standing anxiously waiting and wanting to celebrate the memorable evening. The junior guard elicited the loudest pop from the crowd all night two minutes later as he forced UCSB forward Hosana Kitenge to foul out as Kerr finished a layup through contact to put the Rainbow Warriors ahead for good with 1:59 remaining.

“[The 3-pointer to begin overtime] wasn’t even the play that was set up originally,” Kerr said chuckling about his hot finish. “I was just wide open when I caught the ball, so I was like alright it’s going up, and it went in. I felt really good to get that start and then that kind of had me in a little bit of a more aggressive mindset.”

Hunter Erickson and Isaac Johnson each split trips to the free throw line to help keep UH up over the final minute and Kerr made the on-the-fly decision to not foul while up three as UCSB’s CJ Shaw forced up a contested 3-pointer from the right wing that clanked off the side iron and into Bullock’s hands to clinch the 78-75 win.

The victory snapped UH’s eight-game losing streak against UC Santa Barbara and returned the Rainbow Warriors into a tie atop the Big West standings with UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge with two weeks remaining in the regular season. The Anteaters fell at home against UC San Diego on Saturday night while CSUN clipped Long Beach State by two in Long Beach.

Dre Bullock paced Hawai’i in the win with 21 points, seven rebounds and three steals, going 7-for-16 from the field while knocking down 6-of-9 from the charity stripe. Isaiah Kerr added a season-high 17 points off of the bench for the Rainbow Warriors, scoring 15 points after halftime while drawing the defensive assignment of Aidan Mahaney for a majority of his 32 minutes of work.

Harry Rouhliadeff was the final player to finish in double figures for UH, scoring 10 points and recording two of the biggest baskets of the game for the hosts before fouling out in overtime.

Hawaii F Harry Rouhliadeff tosses up a putback with under a minute remaining to tie the game. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN

“Harry’s battling foul trouble and he makes two of the biggest emotional plays,” Ganot quickly pointed out postgame. “That’s our captain, make no mistake.”

Colin Smith led the Gauchos with 19 points and eight rebounds in the loss while Marvin McGhee IV recorded his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Aidan Mahaney scored 16 points before fouling out in overtime but was held to 7-of-20 shooting from the floor and didn’t get to the free throw line in a game for the first time in the entire month of February.

Hawai’i (19-7, 11-5 Big West) will head to the continent next week for the final road trip of the regular season, visiting UC Davis on Thursday, February 26 before hopping over to face Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, February 28.