HONOLULU – Noah Allen scored a career-high 34 points to help the University of Hawaii overcome an early deficit and defeat cold-shooting UC Santa Barbara 78-56 on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Gauchos (3-16 overall, 1-6 in the Big West) made their first four shots but then missed 35 of their final 45 to end the game at 14-of-49, 28.6%. The Rainbow Warriors (9-11, 3-4) shot 54.2% in the first half as it built a 37-29 halftime and finished at 49.1% for the game.
A three-point basket by Gabe Vincent with 15:47 left in the first half gave UCSB a 10-7 lead, but a three-pointer by Leland Green started a 13-3 Hawaii run that made the score 20-13 at the 9:36 mark. Another three by Vincent with 3:47 to play pulled the Gauchos within 27-24, but they never got closer than that.
Santa Barbara missed its first seven field goal attempts to open the second half but when J.D. Slajchert broke the spell with a free throw line jumper at the 14:36 mark, it was still just an eight-point game, 42-34.
At that point, the Rainbow Warriors went on a 15-1 run to put the game out of reach at 57-35 with just over 10 minutes to play. The Hawaii advantage climbed as high as 26 at 70-44 before they settled in for the 22-point win.
Max Heidegger led the Gauchos with 10 points. He was just 1-for-5 from the field with a three-pointer, but he hit 7-of-9 free throws. Vincent scored nine points, all in the first half, and hit 2-for-4 from three-point territory. UCSB was 7-of-17 from beyond the three-point line but just 7-of-32 from inside the arc, 21.8%.
Hawaii had a 39-27 rebound advantage as Gaucho big men Alex Hart and Tyler Jackson were limited to a combined 26 minutes as they each suffered from a stomach flu.
Allen added eight rebounds to go with his career-best 34-point performance.
UCSB has now dropped four games in a row.
UCSB will return home for its next two games. The Gauchos will host Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, Feb. 2 and UC Davis on Saturday, Feb. 4. Both games will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. in the Thunderdome.
