UH gets OT win to take Rainbow Classic

Brocke Stepteau hit a 3-pointer and made a key steal in overtime as Hawaii outlasted Troy 72-67 in Monday’s final game of the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbow Warriors led most of the way, but Troy rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 5:06 of regulation.

Stepteau’s trey to open the overtime scoring made it 65-62, but the issue was far from settled unitl Sheriff Drammeh made two free throws with 15 seconds left.

Troy’s Jordon Varnado led all scorers with 25 points, including a long 3-pointer with three seconds left to force overtime.

Hawaii led 61-50 with 5:06 left, but went cold from the field and the line.

Drammeh led UH with 15 points. Jack Purchase and Gibson Johnson each added 12, and Stepteau finished with 10.

The Rainbow Warriors improved to 3-0 and the Trojans fell to 1-2.

Hawaii led 36-28 at halftime, thanks to stifling defense and balanced scoring.

Purchase led UH with nine of his points before the break, and all nine Rainbows who played in the first half scored at least one basket.

The Rainbows extended their lead to 47-32 in the early minutes of the second half, with Drammeh hitting a 3-pointer and a 15-footer.

Wesley Person, who led Troy coming in averaging 21 points in the Trojans’ first two games, finished with 16 but was held to three points in the first half. Person did not score again until he made another 3-pointer with 10 minutes left in the game. He added two more bombs as Troy battled back to a nine-point deficit with around six minutes left.

North Dakota beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 80-71 in the early game.

UH’s Mike Thomas was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. He was joined by teammates Johnson and Purchase, Varnado, Martaveous McKnight of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Geno Crandall of North Dakota on the all-tournament team.