Inside job wins it for UH
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii center Ido Flaisher (15) and guard Sheriff Drammeh (23) go up to block Cal Poly guard Victor Joseph (20) during the first half of a college basketball game between the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and the Cal Poly Mustangs on Thursday.
Hawaii pounded the paint on Cal Poly and punched its way into the top three in the Big West Conference.
Noah Allen continued his scoring surge to match the Rainbow Warriors’ late-season tear with a 74-65 victory on Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center, the team’s season-best fourth in a row.
UH (12-11, 6-4 BWC) turned to the interior — it dominated the paint battle 46-10 — and pulled away late in front of a crowd of 3,765. Only UC Davis (7-2) and Saturday’s opponent at the Sheriff, UC Irvine (7-3), stand between the ’Bows and an improbable stab at first place. UH, tied for third with Cal State Northridge, was picked to finish eighth in the preseason.
“Really proud of our guys to fight their way back to be in this position,” said UH coach Eran Ganot, whose team started 0-2 in conference. “We knew (this game) was going to be tough. All these games are battles. I really appreciate the way we have continued to evolve offensively.”
UH shot 50.9 percent from the field and held Cal Poly (7-17, 2-8) to 39.1 percent.
Allen maintained his recent scoring binge with 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting — his sixth 20-point performance in the past eight games — to go with nine rebounds. Forward Gibson Johnson added 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting, Jack Purchase scored 11 going 4-for-5 and center Ido Flaisher contributed 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Flaisher’s post play was key in a 10-0 run shortly after Cal Poly made up a seven-point halftime deficit on three 3s by Victor Joseph and Jakub Niziol to tie it at 40. Five of the freshman’s boards were on the offensive end.
His contributions included an impressive left-handed ball fake into a right-handed hook shot.
“Just kept doing what you know,” the Israeli said. “Going to the offensive rebound and my shots didn’t go in the first half, but my teammates found me.”
“Ido Flaisher gave a huge lift off the bench in the second half,” Ganot said. “Imposed his will and really set the tone. … He made big plays in a big game as a freshman.”
Hawaii missed shooting guard Leland Green due to a stomach virus for the second straight game. Sheriff Drammeh started in his stead and recorded nine points and four assists.
Most of the night, UH didn’t seem to miss a beat.
“Just experience,” Allen said. “We’re getting used to playing together. We’ve been through every situation possible.”
Cal Poly, the best team in the Big West at taking care of the ball, committed a season-high 16 turnovers. UH gave it away just three times in the first half and 10 for the game, tying a season low.
“We had six or seven turnovers that were completely out of character and unacceptable by the way that we play,” Mustangs coach Joe Callero said. “They’re not a team that pressures fullcourt. … I thought our decision-making tonight was really poor.”
Point guard Ridge Shipley led the Mustangs with 19 points, but on 3-for-12 shooting from the field (he was 11-for-15 at the line). Guard Victor Joseph entered with four straight 20-point games but was held to 13 with four turnovers.
Cal Poly is the most prolific 3-point shooting team in the conference, but could not do enough damage from long range. It shot 8-for-21 from deep (6-for-11 in the second half).
“We knew they had a bunch of shooters,” Allen said. “We did a good job of running them off the line.”
Kyle Toth hit a deep 3 for Poly to get the deficit to eight with 8:09 to play, but Flaisher came back with a strong putback in traffic to make it 60-50. When Donovan Fields scored on a drive with 5:27 to go, Allen extended it back to double digits at the free-throw line.
Purchase got an easy putback of a front-end miss of Allen’s 1-and-1 free throw to extend the lead to 70-57. Johnson got a wide-open layup on a feed from Matt Owies the next time down with 1:53 to play and UH was in control from there.
“Except for (Cal Poly’s) isolations late in the first half and the three 3s early in the second, we were nails defensively,” Ganot said.
At tipoff, the Mustangs was the only team in the conference UH hadn’t seen. The teams rematch in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 18 with UH having won four straight in the series.
14 responses to “Inside job wins it for UH”
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Coaching staff doing a great job getting out the best effort from the limited talent that they have. Team playing together with positive coachable attitudes. Picked at the start of the season to finish at the bottom of the league standing, currently tied for 3rd place. This team is no where near last years championship team but I really enjoy watching the them play.
ditto
Absolutely right! Where are the Ganot haters now??? Isn’t it sad that these so called fans are quick to bash him when times are hard but no where to be found once success is at hand. Let this guy do what he was hired to do!!!
I admit bashing Ganot midway through the season but never a hater. Back then the team already had a big edge playing at home in Hawaii time zone but would start the second half playing sloppy like they are the tired visitors. In Dec. late at night on ESPN, SVP has this Bad Beat segment on his show and one of the teams is Hawaii. Even though the other team was down like 11 points with so many seconds left in the game they kept fighting for the ball and in a dramatic desperate shot made a 3 pointer that changed the out come but the funny part was showing the expression of a few fans in the stand. Hawaii is on a Roll, Ganot got the team to buy in, now they are playing smarter. Good job Warriors keep it going.
Ganot and his coaches are doing their job. I’m enjoying watching this team develop.
The Bows have found their Identity and Character; this bodes well coming down the homestretch of the season. Taking care of business is all you can do – – because evidently, the NCAA isn’t about taking care of theirs. Go Bows!
Wow! Good job by all. Call the NCAA and tell them to go, you know what, themselves!
No matter what happens the rest of the way, this team has accomplished so much more than anyone could have expected, and a bunch of credit must go to coaching. Ganot won BWC Coach of the Year last year, but I think he deserves it even more THIS year! Last year, he had lots of experienced Gib Arnold recruits who were already pretty good. This year he basically took almost all entirely new players and patched them together to form a team. Even if they are not allowed to participate in the post season this year, next season should be awesome!
Good to see Ido Flaisher continue to grow his game. He would have benefitted from Pete Newell’s big man camps at UH from the past. He has a good game face but needs to jump higher please.
Excellent job by Ganot thus far. The only concern is that I wish the team wasn’t so reliant on Noah Allen since he’ll be gone next year. Would’ve liked to see Green, Drammeh, or someone else develop into a No. 1 scorer, but will just have to keep fingers crossed next year.
Looking forward to having Mike Thomas back in action.
I predict Green will be the man next year!
I agree with most everyone else, Ganot is doing a terrific job. He’s taken a brand new group with no stars, except Noah Allen, predicted to finish last in the conference and now they’re the hotest team in the league. Ido Flaisher is the most aggressive big man UH has had in a long time. What he lacks in talent he makes up for with attitude. IF UH can hold onto Ganot they will be a league contender for a long time.
UH basketball might have found another big man from Isarel since the Shack of the WAC in the early 2000’s. Now, there’s the Ido shuffle. One for the road!