HONOLULU — Coach Joe Pasternack won’t need to show the video of Saturday’s 78-75, come-from-ahead, overtime defeat at Hawai’i to his UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team.
It’d just be a carbon-copy remake of what they already watched after Thursday’s overtime loss to Cal State Northridge.
“Two straight games we give up an offensive rebound on the last play,” Pasternack said. “We’ve had two straight games we should’ve won, and we didn’t finish.”
UCSB (17-11, 10-7 Big West Conference), which had been on the brink of first place in the league race just two weeks ago, suffered its third-straight defeat to drop into a tie for fourth with UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton.
Hawai’i (19-7, 11-5), which was led by Dre Bullock’s 21 points and seven rebounds, moved into a three-way tie for first with Northridge and UC Irvine.
“The two teams we played, I believe, are the best teams in the league,” Pasternack said. “At Hawai’i and Northridge, we should’ve won both games.”
Colin Smith led UCSB with 19 points and eight rebounds. Aidan Mahaney scored 16 — 10 in the first half — and added five assists before fouling out in the first 43 seconds of the second half.
One of those assists set up C.J. Shaw’s buzzer-beating three-pointer that sent the Gauchos into halftime with a 32-30 lead.
Smith scored both a three-point play and a three-pointer during a 13-6 outburst that put UCSB ahead 64-59 with five minutes remaining.
A jump hook by Hosana Kitenge got the lead back to five points, 66-61, with 3:12 to go.
But Harry Rouhliadorf converted the first of two late put-backs to get the Rainbow Warriors even at 66-all with 39.1 seconds left in regulation.
Marvin McGhee IV returned the favor, rebounding a Gaucho miss and hooking the ball into the basket to put UCSB back ahead with 9.0 seconds remaining. It was the last of his 12 points and team-high 11 rebounds.
“Marvin played really hard … really hard,” Pasternack said. “He’s doing a great job for us.”
Hunter Erickson’s driving layup glanced hard off the rim, but Rouhliadorf rushed unopposed past a pair of UCSB defenders and easily tapped the game-tying basket through the hoop as time expired.
Neither Gaucho bothered to move.
“We weren’t able to finish the job by blocking our men out,” Pasternack said.
Zion Sensley drilled a three-pointer and Kitenge took a defensive rebound endline-to-endline for a basket that put UCSB ahead 74-73.
But the Gauchos also made just 2-of-5 free throws during the overtime. Hawai’i took the lead for good on
“Our guys are playing really, really hard,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “We just can’t complete it at the end.”
Isaiah Kerr’s driving three-point play with two minutes left in the extra period put Hawai’i ahead for good.
The Gauchos’ last shot at forcing a second overtime — Shaw’s three-pointer just the buzzer — caromed off the rim.
UCSB has three games left in the regular season, beginning with UC Riverside next Thursday.
“We’ve got to keep grinding,” Pasternack said. “All I know is we’ve been here before.
“The only way to get out of adversity is to compete, fight and grind, and that’s what we’re going to do.”