Hawaii basketball falters late in home loss to Riverside

Zyon Pullin scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and the UC Riverside basketball team withstood a late Hawaii push for a 54-52 victory in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center tonight.

The Highlanders, who trailed by 10 at the intermission, led 53-52 when Lachlan Olbrich was fouled with 8.4 seconds to play. Olbrich made the first free throw but missed the second.

UH worked for a final shot, but Pullin blocked JoVon McClanahan’s attempt out of bounds with 2.3 seconds left. UH’s Kamaka Hepa was fouled with 1.5 seconds to play, but he missed the 1-and-1 free throw and Olbrich grabbed his 10th rebound as time expired.

UH fell to 20-9, 11-6 in the Big West. UCR remained in second place at 13-5 in league play.

The ’Bows scored the final 10 points of the first half to take a 25-14 lead into the intermission.

Pullin scored on a running hook to cut the deficit to 15-14 with 5:28 to play, UH reserve Beon Riley and shooting guard Noel Coleman hit back-to-back 3s to spark the surge into halftime.

Pullin hit half of the Highlanders’ six first-half field goals. The Highlanders were limited to 6-for-31 shooting, including 0-for-10 on 3s, in the first 20 minutes.

Bernardo da Silva led the ’Bows with 11 first-half points while holding Olbrich to two points on 1-for-8 shooting.