‘Huge win’ for ‘Bows

Big Vander Joaquim came through on his big night.

The Hawaii senior center became the program’s 15th 1,000-point scorer, then hit a huge 3 from the top of the arc with a minute left and UH held off Pacific 60-52 on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH (10-7 overall, 4-2 Big We­­­st) improved to 4-0 at home in league play and snapped the three-game winning streak of Pacific (9-8, 3-2).

A physical, bruising contest with little separation finally broke UH’s way when Joaquim’s top-arc look on a pass from UH’s latest point guard, freshman Ozren Pavlovic, found the net to make it 54-49.

Afterward, Joaquim clutched the game ball like a trophy.

"I can’t be any more happier. I’ll never forget this game," said the 6-foot-10 Angolan, who thanked his teammates over the past three seasons. "As an athlete, you can’t ask for anything more than that."

UH coach Gib Arnold called it "a huge win" against "a team that was playing red-hot."

Arnold glowed about his big man’s milestone.

"I just absolutely love that kid and all he’s brought to our program," Arnold said. "That’s a big deal. He’s one of 15. I couldn’t be more proud."

Pavlovic added a career-high 13 points, including four free throws to ice it in the final minute. Senior Hauns Brereton scored all of his 11 points in the first half.

The Rainbow Warriors now must contend with UC Davis (6-10, 2-3) on Saturday. UC Davis won at Cal State Northridge, 74-71, earlier Thursday.

Pacific was a woeful 3-for-27 (11 percent) on 3-pointers and a season-low 30.9 percent from the field, yet hung around by driving aggressively and mucking up the game for UH. The Tigers got off 17 more field-goal attempts between UH’s season-high 23 turnovers, and 16 offensive rebounds.

UH succeeded in throwing off the visitors’ rhythm as well, and actually won the points-off-turnovers battle 21-18.

Pavlovic did not start, but had the run of the UH offense for most of the way in playing 28 minutes. The 6-foot-8 Croatian had both positives (8-for-9 on free throws, four assists) and negatives (2-for-9 shooting, five turnovers) to his most prominent game of the season.

"We play a fast game. We try to push the tempo all the time," Pavlovic said. "We still need to do a much better job with turnovers. I need to be stronger with the ball. That’s a good lesson."

After Joaquim staked UH to the five-point lead and the ‘Bows stopped Pacific’s top scorer, Lorenzo McCloud, on a drive at the other end, Pavlovic closed it out. He leaked out and was flagrantly fouled with 41 seconds left and made both shots. The ‘Bows kept possession and he got hacked again and made two more from the stripe after a timeout.

"The feeling was great. I was kind of tired getting playing time like this," said Pavlovic. He clapped Joaquim on the back in congratulations.

Entering the game, Joaquim needed nine points to hit 1,000. He got there on a point-blank bank shot with 9:12 to play and his feat was soon announced over the public address system. The crowd of nearly 4,500, including an impressive student turnout, gave him a round of applause. But Joaquim was zoned in on his team’s huddle in a timeout and didn’t seem to notice.

"I was just focused on the game. It would be bad if I got 1,000 points and I didn’t get the win," he said, smiling.

He ended up with 16 points and nine rebounds.

The outcome was absolutely in doubt until late.

UH led by a point at halftime and held Pacific without a point for the first four minutes of the second half, but had to burn two timeouts in an 11-second span five minutes into the second half to maintain possession.

The teams traded the lead a few times until UH fell behind by four at the midpoint of the period. Tigers forward Khalil Kelley threw down a monster dunk on an inbounds pass for a 43-40 Pacific lead with 9:54 left, but he was given a technical for taunting Joaquim and Pavlovic made both tech foul shots.

Pacific coach Bob Thomason shook his head about his team’s poor shooting, but felt that sequence was where the game turned. Kelley (10 rebounds) had to come out with his fourth foul.

"It sure did (swing)," Thomason said of the game’s momentum. "It’s real surprising that it happened because we’re not a real celebrating team. But that’s a learning situation … you’re supposed to act like you do this all the time out here."

Guard Sama Taku led the Tigers with 15 points.

UH showed off some consistent fullcourt pressure for the first time this season, but it did not result in a positive turnover margin (minus-eight). Still, Arnold felt like it took the Tigers, a strong halfcourt team, out of their game plan.

"They scored against our press, but they weren’t scoring in their halfcourt offense, which was their biggest strength," Arnold said.

Jace Tavita got the start at point guard, but he was quickly lifted for Pavlovic, a 6-foot-8 freshman.

Pavlovic got the nod to open in the second half.

Redshirt freshman Brandon Jawato, the team’s leading scorer in Big West play, got his first start in six games. He had foul trouble and finished with four points.