Warriors wash out Cal Poly

At the end of a storm-soaked two-game trip up the Central California coast, Hawaii made it rain.

UH was woeful in a loss at last-place UC Santa Barbara on Thursday. But in Saturday’s trip-capper at Cal Poly, the Rainbow Warriors got 30 points from Noah Allen and hit the Mustangs with torrid 3-point shooting in an 82-61 washout of the hosts in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

UH (13-13, 7-6 Big West) went 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) from long range, one short of the program record for made 3s, and shot 50.9 percent overall. The ’Bows led wire to wire and beat the Mustangs (8-18, 3-9) for the fifth straight time, but Hawaii remains in sixth in the bunched-up conference.

“It stung after that (UCSB) game, but we moved on pretty quick,” UH coach Eran Ganot said of the road split in a postgame phone interview.

“That special approach will always serve you well. It served us well. We’ve had some of those explosions sporadically during the year. Just the ball movement, the crispness — we weren’t getting good shots but great shots.”

Allen epitomized the swift turnaround of fortunes, unleashing his fourth 30-point game of the season in the wake of a six-point outing at UCSB. His outside shot was wet as he connected on five of eight from long range (10-for-16 overall) to go with nine rebounds and five assists against one turnover.

“Warmups felt the same,” Allen said. “Every once in a while a team will have that kind of night.”

“I just tried to help my team any way that I can,” he added. “Turnovers is something we’d talked about. That just comes with experience and making better decisions.”

He became the fifth player in program history to score 30 points four times in a single season. Allen connected on his first six shots as part of a 20-point first half.

“Today was maybe his most complete game,” Ganot said.

Allen will be honored after UH’s next game, on Saturday’s senior night against Cal State Fullerton.

This weekend game was a striking turnaround from a woeful offensive performance at UCSB, in which UH shot 6-for-24 from long range. The 21-point margin of victory matched UH’s largest on the Big West road with a March 7, 2015 game at Fullerton.

Gibson Johnson scored 14 points and had six rebounds and Jack Purchase contributed 13 points and eight rebounds. Leland Green scored nine and Sheriff Drammeh seven.

UH had 20 assists on its 29 baskets, compared to five on 23 for Cal Poly. Allen matched his career high in dimes, while Drammeh (six), Johnson (four) and Green (four) all set career bests. Many came on inside-out action for open 3-pointers.

“It’s the flow of the game. It’s inside-out. It’s a rhythm shot,” Ganot said.

Purchase was coming off an illness that hampered him in the last game. Green was playing his second game back from one, while Allen shook off a recent mild ankle sprain.

“I just felt our team looked more like ourselves again,” Ganot said.

The ’Bows couldn’t replicate their 16 turnovers forced on the typically stingy Mustangs in a nine-point win in Honolulu 10 days prior — Cal Poly had only seven this time. But UH valued the ball too, matching its season low of 10 giveaways.

Cal Poly’s three starting guards — Ridge Shipley, Donovan Fields and Victor Joseph — combined for 45 points. But the Mustangs’ frontcourt supplied virtually nothing.

UH scored the first seven points of the game. It connected on its first five 3-point attempts and 11 of its first 14 overall for a 27-12 lead.

Cal Poly rallied within two, but Allen responded with a step-back 3 with the shot clock winding down.

Then Johnson broke out for a breakaway dunk and followed it up with a paint jumper in the final seconds of the half as UH claimed a 44-37 lead at intermission. Defense was a halftime emphasis; Cal Poly shot 31 percent in the second period.

The Mustangs scored the first two buckets of the second half to get within three, but Allen and Purchase hit the Mustangs with 3s to push the lead to 50-41, followed by a paint pass from Allen to Johnson for a layup.

Fields stole the the ball from Brocke Stepteau and scored a three-point play in transition, but that was the end of the Mustangs’ push.

The lead continued to grow. Allen and Johnson dunked ahead of Cal Poly’s desperate press in the final minutes to seal it.