They will have to build again.

Despite a career-high 15 points from Tom Beattie and nine made triples, the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team still fell to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at the Thunderdome on Saturday, 77-71, which ultimately ended their three-game win streak.

Bernardo da Silva and Justin McKoy had 14 points, but da Silva had a team-high seven rebounds to McKoy's two.

Ajay Mitchell once again was the big pain in the 'Bows' sides as he scored 15 of his 23 total points in the decisive second half. Josh Pierre-Louis was next with 16 points, followed by Matija Belic with 11, and Yohan Traore with 10 points.

Santa Barbara scored the first nine points of the first half while Hawaiʻi had some trouble getting things started.

After the first media timeout, UH spurted a 10-0 run and took a brief lead before Jason Fontenet II stopped the bleeding with a field goal of his own. UH was not intimidated though.

UCSB scored the next four while UH was kept quiet for a bit until Kody Williams banked a triple to give UH the lead back, 15-13.

The 'Bows hung tough thanks to Beattie, who scored nine of UH's next 14 points. Ryan Rapp got in the fray with a made triple of his own in response to a Cole Anderson triple. UH turned those fortunes into a 14-3 run to end the first half.

At the end of the first half, UH took a good-sized lead, 34-25. UH did well with five turnovers committed and shot 54% (13-for-24), but UCSB did better with two turnovers committed; UH still had outrebounded UCSB, 17-15, and held UCSB to 30% shooting (10-for-30).

Santa Barbara came firing out of the locker room and cut UH's nine-point lead in half quickly.

UH hung tough, but their halftime lead was ultimately wiped out. They fell victim to a 12-2 Santa Barbara run with 13:05 remaining, but they did not give up.

Rapp buried another triple with 10:20 remaining to tie the game at 51. It turned into a back-and-forth battle with neither team pulling a lead of more than three points until the waning moments.

Despite back-to-back triples from McKoy and Noel Coleman, UCSB answered the bell then.

UCSB would outscore UH, 15-8, in the last five minutes and won the game at the free-throw line for the final arithmetic to ultimately snap a three-game skid of their own. UCSB once again double-whammied UH with two turnovers committed to UH's six in the second half.

For UH, offensive rebounds proved to be the big problem, as UCSB won the battle there, 11-4.

The loss puts UH and UCSB tied for sixth place in the Big West Conference standings at 7-8 apiece. UH falls to 15-12 overall, and things do not get easier.

UH will return home for a single contest on Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Stan Sheriff Center against Long Beach State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. HST. You can listen to the game on ESPN Honolulu or watch the game on Spectrum Sports.