Jan. 29 – When the Hawaii basketball team returns to the proverbial drawing board, they’re hoping for a more aesthetic display than Saturday night’s 72-69 win over Cal State Bakersfield at the SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center.
When the Hawaii basketball team returns to the proverbial drawing board, they’re hoping for a more aesthetic display than Saturday night’s 72-69 win over Cal State Bakersfield at the SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center.
In front of a crowd of 4,417, the Rainbow Warriors built a 45-28 lead at the break and then held their own against the undermanned Roadrunners. The’Bows shot 31.6% in the second half, including missing all 11 3-point attempts.
“Grateful for our fans who were amazing tonight,” said UH coach Eran Ganot. “They were consistent. We weren’t. We have to bring it to them. I see great potential in this group. These are moments too, not only when we’re behind but also when we’re up. There’s a lot of work to do for us.”
Kamaka Hepa and JoVon McClanahan each scored 17 points for the’Bows, who improved to 16-6 overall and 7-3 in the Big West.
But the Roadrunners, trailing as far as 18, closed 54-50 on Cameron Smith’s knight with 6:51 to play.
“We got off to a bad start,” said CSUB coach Rob Barnes. “I thought our boys came out a little flat and they came out and shot the ball (in the first half) and jumped at us very quickly. They were making some shots early and they were making some 3s so we got discouraged from that. Once we settled in our guys responded well.
After Smith’s basket, UH sixth man Beon Riley drove past Antavion Collum to lay up while drawing a foul. Riley’s free throw completed the three-point game with a 6:34 play. UH center Bernardo da Silva then scored with a pirouette to extend the ‘Bows’ lead to 59-50 with 5-48.
There were 10 fouls in the final 1:35 as the Roadrunners tried to close the gap.
UH’s Noel Coleman hit one of two free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining to give UH an impassable 72-66 lead.
CSUB’s Travis Henson’s basket when the horn blew was the only 3 made of the second half for both teams.
Despite the result, Ganot expressed disappointment that the ‘Bows failed to put together two strong halves for the second game in a row.
“Just call it what it is – we were brutal,” Ganot said of UH’s second half after opening the game with an 11-0 run. “We were lucky to be strong in the first half. That happened twice (in three nights). We need to keep working to get to 40 minutes so we can improve. But in the second half we were brutal .”
In the second half, Ganot conceded, the Bows had good shots “that didn’t fall. We had good shots for our best shooters.”
But Ganot said the arches are inconsistent in other areas.
“The defense went away,” Ganot said, citing the Roadrunners’ 52 percent accuracy in the second half, in which they scored 41 points. “The rush, the junk, the focus… we need to grow. You hope when you played Northridge (January 16) and that happened it would set us up for this moment. It didn’t. So we decided to do something else.”
Hepa and da Silva were each eliminated after committing their fifth fouls late in the second half. “We shouldn’t even let the umpires in the game in general,” Hepa said when asked about the touch fouls. “That’s the best way to look at it. I was frustrated but that’s really pointless out there like wasting my time and energy focusing on them. So they shouldn’t even be a factor in how well we can play as a team. It’s definitely frustrating, but we need to get better personally.”
The Roadrunners were without their two best point guards and two post players due to injuries. They only had eight players available.
“I thought our guys had stepped up,” Barnes said. “We challenged them to improve. Until we get the boys back, it is what it is. I’m proud of our boys.”
The Roadrunners, suffering their fourth consecutive loss, fell to 6-15 overall and 2-8 in the Big West.
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