‘Bows put on a show

Northern Iowa might as well have had the blue logo of the NCAA emblazoned across the front of its uniforms.

Whoever stood in front of Hawaii on Tuesday night was going to feel the wrath of the Rainbow Warriors. And feel wrath the Panthers did.

UH proved a point in its 68-52 rout of the visitors in the Stan Sheriff Center in the opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic: Push us around and see what happens.

Early Tuesday, the NCAA came out with severe sanctions on the program for the violations during the tenure of ex-coach Gib Arnold: a postseason ban in 2016-17; a reduction of scholarships by two for the next two years; and three years of probation.

The arena named for the late athletic director UNI shares with UH proved no safe haven for the Panthers. Behind a wild crowd of of 6,313, UH (8-1) forced 19 turnovers — including a wild stretch late of four straight steals by Isaac Fleming — and remained unbeaten at home in eight games this season. UNI (7-4) of the Missouri Valley boasts wins over two top-five teams this season, but that mattered little Tuesday.

UH seized control with a 10-0 run to close the first half to go up nine at the break, then wore the Panthers out in the second.

“Probably our best overall performance at a time we needed it against a really good team,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “I’m proud of the guys … obviously this was a long and unique day. And the guys did a great job staying together, even during moments in the game when we were a little too emotional.”

Aaron Valdes scored 15 points, and the bench trio of Fleming, Sai Tummala and Stefan Jovanovic combined for 34, an essential burst on a night the starting frontcourt struggled to manufacture points.

“I think we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder, knowing that next year we’re going to be banned,” said Valdes, a junior. “But our focus isn’t on next year. It’s on this year, what we have in front of us. And that’s to win the Big West and make it to the (NCAA) tourney.”

Now the Rainbow Warriors get No. 3 Oklahoma, one of five unbeaten teams in the country, in a 4 p.m. semifinal televised on ESPN2. The Sooners are the highest-ranked team UH has faced since defeating No. 2 Kansas at the Sheriff, 76-65, in the 1997 Rainbow Classic.

“They’re a really good team,” Jovanovic said. “We’ll prepare as well as we can, and if we all do our best I think we have a good chance.”

It is the second straight year the Rainbows advanced to the Diamond Head semis with a convincing first-round performance.

Point guard Roderick Bobbitt returned to the starting lineup from a one-game absence and had eight assists. But the starting frontcourt of Stefan Jankovic and Mike Thomas struggled with foul trouble. Enter Tummala and Jovanovic, who played large when it mattered. No more so than the usually quiet Jovanovic, who swatted a career-high four shots to go with 11 points and nine boards. UH ran the offense through him during some possessions in crunch time.

“It’s always a good feeling to have the faith of my team,” Jovanovic said. “The fact that they trusted me enough to give me the ball and play through me means a lot to me.”

UH led by about 10 points for most of the second half. Then Fleming buried UNI — which was coming off a win over then-No. 5 Iowa State on Saturday, and was receiving votes in this week’s AP Top 25 poll — with four straight steals for buckets during a wild stretch around the five-minute mark. Fleming tied his career high of six steals.

“It was amazing,” Valdes said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. He just kept taking it from them.”

For a few moments, the season-high Sheriff crowd rocked the place.

“The adrenalin was just ridiculous at that point,” Ganot said. “That was pretty special. It was pretty loud in that gym.”

At that point, UNI point guard Wes Washpun had fouled out of the game. But UH was beating UNI even with Washpun around. The Panthers’ driving force struggled at times to locate his passes and finished with seven turnovers.

“There were times when I thought we handled their defensive pressure pretty well,” UNI coach Ben Jacobson said. “But there were too many times we didn’t and it led to some turnovers.”

UH attempted to run different defenders at Washpun at various points — Bobbitt, Quincy Smith and Fleming.

“They’ve got enough versatility with different guys where they can really pressure and get into the passing lanes,” Jacobson said.

UNI, a prolific 3-point shooting team, struggled to generate clean looks and finished 6-for-20 (30 percent) from deep.

No. 3 Oklahoma 88, Washington State 60

The Sooners picked up right where they left off on Oahu.

Oklahoma opened the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic with a demolition of Washington State at the Stan Sheriff Center. Just a few weeks ago, OU was here on a separate trip to play Villanova in the Pearl Harbor Invitational.

OU (9-0), one of just five undefeated teams in the country, has a 4 pm. date today with host Hawaii. Washington State (7-3) plays Northern Iowa at 6:30 p.m.

The Sooners used their combination of effective long-range shooting and smothering defense to extend their six-point halftime lead into a blowout.

Guard Buddy Hield capped his 25-point night with an alley-oop jam with 13:31 to play, part of a 17-0 game-breaking run for the Sooners. The Big 12 team coasted from there.

Auburn 83, New Mexico 78

A game of wild momentum swings swung the Tigers’ way in the game’s final moments.

Kareem Canty hit the last of his five 3-pointers with 29 seconds left, giving Bruce Pearl’s team a four-point lead. Canty finished with 27 points to lead the Tigers (6-3) of the SEC into the semifinals.

The Lobos (7-4) of the Mountain West were banished to the consolation semifinals on the heels of their last-second home loss to Rice due to an errant timeout call.

Harvard 85, BYU 82, OT

Crimson big man Zena Edosomwan posted career highs of 23 points and a tournament-record 17 rebounds as the first Ivy League team in Diamond Head Classic history to punch its ticket to the semifinals.

Edosomwan scored 18 of his points in the second half and overtime. Agenda Okolie sealed the win for Harvard (4-6) with two late free throws.

BYU (7-4) of the West Coast Conference got 23 points and eight assists from Kyle Collinsworth and 23 points and 16 boards from Kyle Davis.