HONOLULU, Hawai’i — No practice made near-perfect for UC Santa Barbara point guard Stephan Swenson on Thursday.
The graduate transfer, who used a 10-day break over Christmas to heal a foot injury, stepped up in a big way to lead the Gauchos to a 64-61 men’s basketball victory at Hawai’i.
Swenson scored seven of his game-high 21 points in the final 2:27 to hold off a late comeback by the Rainbow Warriors.
“He rested for the last week,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack pointed out, “and because he rested, he had seven assists with no turnovers, hit some huge free throws at the end … and was the point guard we thought we had.
“He had a really tough December. But kudos to him, he’s a warrior.”
The 21 points matched the season-high that Swenson set against UC San Diego in the Gauchos’ league-opening loss on Dec. 5.
The seven assists also tied his Gaucho best, which came against Wisconsin-Green Bay on Dec. 14. He sat out last Saturday’s final nonconference game against Westcliff University.
UCSB (9-5, 1-2 Big West Conference), which had suffered through a 2-4 December, knocked off a Hawai’i team (8-5, 0-2) whose only losses in 10 games at SimpliFi Arena had come against North Carolina and Nebraska.
“Hawai’i has a really good team, but I thought our guys played really, really hard,” Pasternack said. “They competed defensively at a championship level.”
They held the Rainbow Warriors to 44.2% shooting overall and 21.4% (3-for-14) from the three-point line. Although the Gauchos shot just 39.7%, their 8-for-26 shooting from three was just enough to get the win.
UCSB made just two of its first nine shots — both by Swenson — but also held Hawai’i to just four points in the first five minutes.
The Gauchos got untracked from three-point range with four long bombs — two by Deuce Turner and one apiece by Swenson and Jason Fontenet II — during a 3½-minute outburst. Turner and Fontenet finished with 10 points apiece.
Fontenet’s two free throws put UCSB ahead 20-14 with 8:50 left in the first half.
Evans Kipruto, who took over at center when Kenny Pohto got his second foul, responded with a pair of baskets off slick interior passes by Swenson.
He also twice blocked Tanner Christensen, the Rainbow Warriors’ 6-foot-10 and 265-pound center. Christensen finished with a team-high 15 points while Gytis Nemeiksa added 13 with eight rebounds.
“Evans’ size, his ability to block shots and play post defense … and he honors the process every single day,” Pasternack said. “He hasn’t played and Ariel Bland hasn’t played, but they work really hard every day.
“That’s what good teams do. They just get better and better, and everybody works hard whether they’re playing or not.”
A step-back jumper by Fontenet and Cole Anderson’s three off Swenson’s driving, kick-out pass gave the Gauchos a 29-23 lead with 3:41 remaining in the period.
UCSB missed four straight shots, however, before Swenson’s runner at the buzzer gave it a halftime lead of 31-28.
His drought-ending basket was a sign of plays to come at the end of the second half.
The Rainbow Warriors out-shot the Gauchos 40% to 38.7% and out-rebounded them 18-16 in the first half. UCSB protected its lead by committing its only first-half turnover on a shot-clock violation during the first minute.
“They hurt us with 10 offensive rebounds — that’s a lot of second-chance points (17 to just two for UCSB) — but the key for us was the turnover battle,” Pasternack said.
Hawai’i led momentarily in the second half, 38-36, on Ryan Rapp’s two free throws.
But the Gauchos responded with a 15-0 run which started with consecutive threes by Ben Shtolzberg, Swenson and Fontenet.
Shtolzberg matched his season-high by scoring nine points — all in the second half — and adding four rebounds.
“This was Ben’s best game since he’s been at UCSB,” Pasternack said of the junior guard. “He hasn’t played a ton of minutes and probably isn’t playing as much as he wants, but he honors the process every single day, practices so hard, competes every day, and has an unbelievable attitude.
“He’s gotten so much better on defense … Add to that, he’s driving the ball and making threes. I’m just really, really proud of Ben and his maturity level.”
Swenson kept the run going by stripping the ball from Kody Williams and rushing it up-court for a fast-break layup.
Anderson capped the spree by scoring a runner off a hesitation move which gave UCSB its biggest lead of 51-38 with 9:56 remaining.
The Gauchos still led by nine, 55-46, after Pohto scored off a driving pass from Swenson and then assisted Shtolzberg on his cut to the basket with 7:33 left.
But they missed their next seven shots — five from three-point range — to let Hawai’i back in the game. Rapp outscored them 6-0 by himself in the next five minutes to reduce the Rainbow Warriors’ deficit to 55-52.
“I’m really proud of our fight to come back,” Hawai’i coach Eran Ganot said. “That group in the end there was very connected.
“It was just a play or two there, but give them credit … That’s a really good team.”
The biggest play down the stretch came when the left-handed Swenson drove into the teeth of Hawai’i’s defense and flipped a right-handed layup soft and high off the backboard over the 6-10 Christensen.
He also made 5-of-6 free throws, and Shtolzberg added 2-of-2, to hold the Rainbow Warriors at bay in the final 2:05.
“Stephan Swenson is a great player,” Pasternack said. “Unfortunately, he hasn’t been healthy for the whole month of December.”
The Gauchos won’t return to the court until next Thursday when they play host to Cal State Bakersfield.
“We’ve got an 8 a.m. flight and a long trip back, but it sure is nice to get on that flight with a W,” Pasternack said. “It’s not an easy place to win.”