UH comes back for first hoops win of season

Hawaii rallied from a game-long deficit to defeat Texas State 74-68 on Day 2 of the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic today.

Texas State scored the game’s first 10 points, led by 12 at halftime, and by five with five minutes left. But the Bobcats of the Sun Belt Conference could not hold on as the Rainbow Warriors earned repeated trips to the foul line in the second half and closed the game out on a 16-5 run.

UH (1-1) avoided dropping to 0-2, which would’ve been its first time since the 2008-09 season.

Four Rainbows scored in double figures: Jack Purchase scored 15, Sheriff Drammeh 14, and Gibson Johnson and Noah Allen 13 apiece.

The Rainbows shot 61.9 percent from the field and 85 percent (17-for-20) at the line in the second half. They took their first lead, 65-63, on Drammeh’s free throws with 3:43 to play.

UH can finish the round-robin tournament with a winning record. It faces Florida Atlantic (0-2) at 11:15 Monday night in the ESPN Tip-off Marathon.

The Rainbows shot 37 percent and committed 10 turnovers in an erratic first half and fell behind 38-26.

Freshman Leland Green opened the second half with a layup for his first career points. Allen cut it to single digits on a drive, then cut the deficit to 44-37 on his first 3 of the season.

UH got to within four on a give-and-go cut between Drammeh and Johnson.

Reserve guard Brocke Stepteau and Drammeh hit consecutive 3s to make it 51-48 with 11:25 left.

Emmanuel King countered with a post move and Bobby Conley collected a steal and layup to boost it back to seven for the Bobcats (1-1).

Center Ido Flaisher converted a three-point play and followed with a quick post bucket to tie it up at 55 with 8:50 left. Purchase tied it again on a shot clock-beating corner 3 with 5:49 left.

Again, UH tied it up, this time at 63 on Green’s first career triple with 4:15 left. Finally, UH led for the first time on Drammeh’s free throws.

Johnson boosted the advantage to five on a layup inside from Allen and Purchase hit two more foul shots with 1:43 to go.

Drammeh put it away by going 3-for-4 from the line in the final minute.