HONOLULU — UC Santa Barbara continues to have the number of the Hawaii men's basketball team.

On Thursday night, that number was six: six straight wins for UCSB in the series between the Big West rivals, including three in a row at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Gauchos scored 15 straight points over a five-minute stretch of the second half and held off the Rainbow Warriors to prevail 64-61 in UH's Big West home opener.

UH (8-5 overall) dropped to 0-2 to start Big West play for the first time since 2016-17, coach Eran Ganot’s second season.

"You don’t want to over-analyze it," Ganot said of the series of defeats to his UCSB counterpart Joe Pasternack. "Our guys came in ready to go. They were a little better and you give credit."

A crowd of 3,187 ( 4,753 tickets issued) saw Gytis Nemeiksa’s desperation shot of about 35 feet from the SimpliFi Arena logo in front of the UH bench carom off the side of the iron at the buzzer. The ball also might've been on his fingertips when time expired.

UCSB point guard Stephan Swenson, a transfer from Stetson, led the Gauchos (9-5, 1-2) with 21 points, seven assists. He returned from a missed game in UCSB's nonconference finale to finish with no turnovers for the first time in a Gaucho uniform.

Several times he drove hard into the paint, jumped and launched two-handed passes over his head to open teammates on the weak side of the floor. During UCSB's big run to go from down 38-36 to up 51-38, he assisted on two 3-pointers, made a triple himself and stuck a layup.

He told Spectrum News he was inspired to head to UCSB because of his countryman from Belgium, Ajay Mitchell, who was taken with the 38th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft.

"For us to be a really good team, make progress, I have to be at my best self, and sometimes that’s for me to value the possessions," Swenson said. "If I can do my job, it makes it a lot easier for us to win games."

He went 5-for-6 at the line in the last 2:04 to keep his team ahead as UH attempted to rally with a lineup of Kody Williams, Tom Beattie, Ryan Rapp, Nemeiksa and Tanner Christensen.

"I thought Stephan Swenson was unbelievable as a point guard, seven assists, zero turnovers," Pasternack said. "Played really hard and we needed that. He hit free throws at the end."

UH trailed 31-28 at halftime, briefly captured a lead, then yielded the big run to go down 13 with under 10 minutes left. 

The co-captain Rapp, who scored 10 points with seven rebounds, said the team didn't properly follow the scout on UCSB's transition 3s and staying home on shooters on Swenson's penetration.

"He’s a really good player. Grad transfer, experienced, he knows what he’s doing," Rapp said. "I think we could’ve done a better job in our defensive wall and just expected that a little better. I think some of us, including myself, we would ball-watch a little too much."

Ganot said UH's breakdowns in transition caused what should've been a four-point swing to balloon to a 12-point swing.

The 'Bows, which have erased several second-half deficits for wins this season, responded with a 14-4 spurt to get within three with 5:17 left.

Christensen missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 2:40 to play and Swenson kissed the ball high off the glass at the other end for a 57-52 UCSB lead.

Kody Williams sank two foul shots but fouled Swenson while pressuring the ball near midcourt. The Belgian sank both 1-and-1 shots with 2:05 left.

Christensen pivoted into a two-handed dunk with under two minutes left to get it to 59-56. Beattie fouled Ben Schtolzberg under the basket at the other end and the Creighton transfer pushed the margin back to five.

Christensen, who led UH with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting, spun into a left-handed layup to make it a three-point game with a minute left.

Swenson missed a long 3, Ariel Bland got the offensive rebound in the corner but lost the ball out of bounds with 37.7 seconds left.

UH called its last timeout when it had difficulty inbounding the ball and got it in on its second try. Rapp was off on a quick top-arc 3 but Christensen was fouled going for the rebound. The big man made one of two to make it 61-59 with 26.7 seconds left.

UH took a foul on Swenson, who hit one of two.

Williams was off on an off-balance 3-pointer from the right wing with under 10 seconds left but Nemeiksa was there on the weak side with a putback through contact to get within a point with 3.8 seconds left. UCSB called timeout.

"It doesn’t come down to a shot at the end. The end didn’t cost us the game, the officials," Ganot said when asked whether he thought it could've been a three-point-play opportunity. "That wasn’t part of it. I’m going to look at the film and trust the crew. (Nemeiksa) gave a great effort to give us that second chance."

UCSB got it to Swenson and he made two with 3.2 seconds left, setting up Nemeiksa’s final attempt. Nemeiksa scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half and grabbeda game-high eight rebounds.

Ganot said his late-game lineup, with starting shooting guard Marcus Greene (two points, two assists) on the bench and with spot work from Aaron Hunkin-Claytor and Harry Rouhliadeff, was yielding the best flow in the offense.

"Sometimes this year you’ve seen different guys at different times," Ganot said. "They gave us great offensive and defensive possessions and gave us a chance to win the game."

Ganot considered his team's nine turnovers and plus-three margin on the glass (other than 11 offensive boards given up) and field-goal percentage allowed (39.7%) to be positives, but UH shot only 3-for-14 on 3-pointers to UCSB's 8-for-26.

Gauchos freshman Zion Sensley, the son of former UH great Julian Sensley, did not play with his left foot in a boot.

UH plays host to Cal Poly (6-9, 0-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Mustangs have lost 41 straight Big West regular-season games dating back to the 2022-23 season, but are recognized as a threat this season under first-year coach Mike DeGeorge as the Mustangs play at the quickest pace in Division I, according to KenPom, and spread opponents out.

"We gotta work on our transition defense and getting back and stopping their attack," Christensen said. "If they’re running like that we can take advantage, probably because we have bigger size, and take advantage of them playing five-out. Limiting their transition attacks has got to be key, getting back and building a wall."

Note: This story was updated with details and quotes.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.