SANTA BARBARA, Calif.  – The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team nearly put together its third straight comeback win, before being denied by UC Santa Barbara, 76-66, Thursday night at the Thunderdome. The road loss snapped the Rainbow Warriors (14-7, 5-2 Big West) season-long four-game win steak.
 
Coupled with UC Irvine's win versus UC Davis, the 'Bows dropped 1.5 games behind the Anteaters for the Big West lead. However, UH still remains in sole possession of second place in the league standings.

UCSB (15-8, 4-4 BW) led from nearly wire-to-wire and by as many as 12 points in the first half. The never-say-die Rainbow Warriors continued to fight and took the lead briefly in the second half but the Gauchos ultimately pulled away.   
 
UH had little answers for Gaucho big man Amadou Sow who scored a game-high 30 points on 12-of-13 shooting. The sophomore center led a UCSB charge that scored 48 points in the paint and out-rebounded UH, 33-23. The Gauchos shot 56 percent for the game.   
 
Justin Hemsley came off the bench to notch a team-high 13 points and five rebounds for UH. Dawson Carper had 11 points, while Drew Buggs dished out nine assists. Buggs moved passed Anthony "AC" Carter for second on the UH all-time list and with 410 career assists is now is just two assists from tying and three from surpassing all-time leader Troy Bowe.
 
UH trailed 39-33 at halftime as the Gauchos shot 62 percent in the first half and score all but seven of their points inside the paint. The 'Bows though clawed back and after consecutive three-pointers by Buggs and Hemsley, took a 54-53 lead with 9:26 lead. However, UCSB scored nine unanswered points to spur a 13-2 run to put them back up by double-digits. UH got no closer than five points thereafter.
 
The Rainbow Warriors will now head up the coast for a meeting with Cal Poly on Saturday, Feb. 8. Tipoff for the game is at 7:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. HT.