Diamond Head Classic: ’Bows bounce back

Consolation, indeed.

A night after squandering second-half competitiveness against nationally ranked Miami, Hawaii recouped its forward momentum in a 79-71 victory against Davidson in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic consolation semifinals Saturday before a crowd of 3,233 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

“Probably one of our best performances of the last couple years, to be honest,” coach Eran Ganot said after his team held the potent Wildcats to 38.1 percent shooting. “Put into context, (we were) coming off an emotional game 24 hours ago against a really tough team in Miami, then having to turn around … against this team.

“It speaks to the growth, the maturity of our team.”

UH (8-3) won for the fourth time in five games in besting Davidson (4-6) of the Atlantic 10. It now shoots for fifth place in the DHC on Christmas morning against Princeton (6-7) of the Ivy League. The Tigers bested the ’Bows 75-62 in last season’s Pearl Harbor Invitational.

Sheriff Drammeh scored 16 of his career-high 22 points in the first half, helping stake his team to an eight-point halftime advantage. Forward Gibson Johnson added a career-high-tying 19.

Co-captain Mike Thomas, who was held to one point in the 75-57 setback to No. 6 Miami, continued to struggle and fouled out scoreless in eight minutes.

This time, his teammates did enough to pick up the slack.

Jack Purchase (10 points) and Brocke Stepteau (nine) convened to close it out after Davidson chipped to within three — easy striking distance for a team used to making upwards of 12 3-pointers a game — soon after the break.

Freshman Drew Buggs contributed six points, five rebounds and a season-best six assists.

“We felt like we had a really solid first half against Miami, and then we dropped off in that second half,” Johnson said. “So we knew we had to bounce back, and that’s a strength of this team all season. Every single time we’ve lost, we’ve been able to bounce back. We just focused on that, not letting the loss get to us.”

Wildcats forward Peyton Aldridge had to work extra hard for his 26 points, shooting 8-for-23 from the floor (2-for-10 on 3s) and turning it over five times. Johnson emphatically swatted him twice as part of a season-best three blocks.

“That’s one of the best offenses in the nation, stats-wise,” Johnson said. “I knew I had to step up my game on the defensive end. That’s one of the things I tried to get — meet him up top.”

Stephen Curry’s alma mater, located just north of Charlotte, N.C., shot well south of its custom from beyond the arc, 9-for-27 (33.3 percent). That included a couple of late makes that did not threaten the outcome.

UH came out blazing hot, beating Davidson at its own 3-point-popping game. The Rainbows connected on four of their first eight long-range attempts and led 30-15, the largest margin, with nine minutes left in the half.

“Momentum always feels good, right?” Drammeh said. “Getting off to a good start is super important. … That just gave us a chance to have control of the whole game, basically.”

Leland Green (11 points) cashed in on his third triple in the final minute of the half for a 40-32 lead at intermission.

The ’Bows got it done in other ways after the break, working inside-out once they regressed to their pedestrian 3-point shooting average.

“We got a little stagnant when they changed to their zone defense,” Drammeh said. “Us not being able to shoot the 3 in the second half (2-for-10), it slowed us down, obviously, but I feel like we … changed up our game plan and scored in different ways. Gibson got easy layups because they were focused on shooters on the perimeter, and we found him. Jack found him multiple times.”

Davidson, which came within an Aldridge 3-point buzzer miss of knocking off New Mexico State on Friday night, drew within 48-45 but Johnson converted a three-point play to launch a 9-0 UH run.

“We got it back to 3. We had to capitalize on every possession,” Davidson’s 29-year coach Bob McKillop said. “Give them (Hawaii) credit. They run great stuff.

“It’s tough to beat Hawaii on their home court.”

Thomas fouled out with 4:32 left and the Wildcats crept within seven, but Green stopped and popped on a fast break.

Johnson scored inside on a feed from Buggs and Stepteau’s runner through contact made it a double-digit game with under two minutes to go.

USC 89, Middle Tennessee 84

The resurgent Trojans can become the first two-time Diamond Head champion after they survived a high-octane semifinal road race with the Blue Raiders.

Forwards Chimezie Metu and Bennie Boatwright combined for 50 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, while Elijah Stewart had two huge corner 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give USC (8-4) of the Pac-12 the buffer it needed to survive potent MTSU (8-3) of Conference USA.

Metu shot 11-for-15 from the field for 27 points with nine rebounds, while Boatwright — who was ejected in Friday’s opening-round win over Akron — bounced back with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists.

The Trojans, who won the inaugural DHC in 2009, will face New Mexico State in the championship on Christmas Day.

This season USC has been dogged by an FBI investigation, an ineligible player and injuries.

“It’ll be big (if we win), give us momentum going into Pac-12 (play),” said Boatwright, who missed two games before the DHC with an injury. “So, we’re going to lock in and try to come out with a ‘W.’ … It’s been tough to get a rhythm when guys are in and out of the rotation. But we have so many guys who are ready to step up, it’s making it easy.”

Aaron’s triples staked USC to an 82-76 lead. Then, when MTSU hung around, Metu touch-passed the ball to Boatwright for a layup and a seven-point lead with 22.7 seconds remaining to ice the victory.

Forward Nick King led MTSU with 28 points and 11 rebounds.

Princeton 64, Akron 62

Myles Stephens’ game-winning layup on a feed from Sebastian Much as time expired sent the Tigers into the fifth-place game.

Princeton (6-7) of the Ivy League inbounded with under six seconds left after Zips guard Malcolm Duvivier tied it up at 62 with his sixth 3-pointer. Much (12 points, three assists) took a handoff, drove baseline, drew a crowd under the basket and dished to Stephens (15 points) while airborne for the win. Amir Bell scored a team-high 16 points.

The Zips (6-4) of the Mid-American Conference were banished to the seventh-place game when they remained close but failed repeatedly to break a tie game in their favor down the stretch. Duvivier scored a game-high 18 points.