Allen helps ’Bows coast past Vulcans

By taking what the defense — and his teammates — gave him, Noah Allen provided Hawaii with his most productive performance to date.

Allen drained six 3-pointers to lead a near-record collective shooting performance and the Rainbow Warriors cruised past UH Hilo 86-55 in Tuesday’s intrastate matchup at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Allen scored a season-high 24 points and the Rainbow Warriors drained 13 3-pointers as a team, one short of the school record, to improve to 3-2.

“My teammates did a great job of finding me when I was open and it just started going in tonight,” said Allen, who ignited a hot start for the Rainbow Warriors with his first 3-pointer 56 seconds into the game.

Coming off a spirited effort in an 83-68 loss to No. 4 North Carolina last Friday, UH (3-2) hit five of its first six shots to open up a double-digit lead less than four minutes into the game and stayed in control the rest of the way against the Division II Vulcans (1-3) before a crowd of 2,078.

The Rainbow Warriors combined to dish out 24 assists on their 31 made baskets, with sophomore guard Brocke Stepteau delivering a career-high seven to go along with 11 points, also a career best.

“Offensively we shared that ball, and that’s gotta be a big part of our identity,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We get 31 baskets and 24 assists on those, that’s really high level. You could feel it. It’s the hardest thing to guard. We were passing up good shots and getting great shots.”

UH exceeded its previous season high by draining nine 3-pointers in the first half and raced out to a 45-24 halftime lead.

Allen went 6-for-10 from 3-point range and finished 9-for-14 overall and added 10 rebounds in his second double-double in UH’s past three games.

The senior entered the game shooting 25 percent from 3-point range (5-for-20) but was locked in throughout his 24 minutes on the floor and also had four assists.

“We watch that every day in practice, he’s one of our better shooters,” Ganot said. “We want him to continue to be aggressive.”

Guard Sheriff Drammeh went 3-for-3 from behind the arc in the first half and finished with 16 points. Forward Gibson Johnson added 14 points and eight rebounds and Stepteau contributed two 3-pointers to UH’s total, which fell just short of the record of 14 last accomplished in a win over UC Irvine in February.

“When I’m out there I’m trying to shoot when I’m open. I’m not trying to force anything, and look for my open teammates,” Stepteau said.

“I’ve got a lot of scorers around me like Noah, who was feeling it today. So when I see him open I’m gonna hit him every time. We have a good threat inside with (Johnson), so it’s all about making the right play and not (be) out of control.”

UH Hilo forward Brian Ishola scored the Vulcans’ first eight points and finished with 18. Guard Parker Farris, who entered the game averaging 27.3 points per game, went nearly 16 minutes before scoring his first two and finished with five points.

“They crawled into him, they made every catch tough, they showed on all screens on him and they knew coming in how it was going to be,” UH Hilo coach GE Coleman said.

“A game like this for us, it’s the ability to come and play at another level for Division II kids, so it’s a good experience.”

The Rainbow Warriors continue their season-opening homestand Friday against Troy and face Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday.