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DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
UH Rainbow Warrior Stefan Jankovic splits the defense and gets fouled against the Cal Poly Mustangs during a game tonight at Mott Athletic Center.
A dominant second half against Cal Poly tonight carried the Hawaii basketball team into uncharted territory on the mainland.
UH turned a game tied at halftime into a comfortable victory, 75-60, marking the first time the program won its first four conference road games.
The Rainbow Warriors (18-3, 7-1) moved into a first-place tie in the Big West with idle UC Irvine heading into Thursday’s showdown between the teams at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Coupled with a 13-point win over Poly at the Sheriff on Jan. 6, UH earned a home-and-home sweep of the Mustangs for the first time since joining the Big West in 2012.
Aaron Valdes put an exclamation point on the victory with an alley-oop jam from Stefan Jankovic. Jankovic had 19 points and nine rebounds, point guard Roderick Bobbitt overcame a slow start for 15 points and six assists, and Valdes scored 14.
A crowd close to capacity at the 3,000-seat Mott Athletics Center watched as UH built a double-digit second half lead behind 47 points in the period.
David Nwaba, Cal Poly’s leading scorer, rebounder and assist man, did not start. He was held to four points, five rebounds and a single assist in 25 minutes off the bench. Guard Reese Morgan led the last-place Mustangs (8-14, 2-7) with 10 points.
Bobbitt went out with two fouls with 8:31 left in the first half in favor of reserve Niko Filipovich.
Filipovich played ably, contributing five points in the period and seven for the game.
Valdes posted up on Nwaba and got a turnaround jumper to go, plus the foul. He completed the three-point play to tie the game at 28.
Both teams had chances to claim the lead going into halftime, but they could not connect on jump shots and remained knotted.
Bobbitt and Valdes opened the second half with 3-pointers for a six-point lead, and Jankovic followed with a three-point play in transition on a feed from Mike Thomas to go up 37-28.
Bobbitt got a steal and coasted in for a layup and a 39-32 advantage.
Quincy Smith missed two at the line sandwiched by Mustang baskets, cutting the deficit to two.
Bobbitt sank his third 3 of the game and Stefan Jovanovic sank a deep 2 to extend the lead again.
Valdes blocked Cal Poly’s Josh Martin and Sai Tummala converted a top-arc 3-pointer at the other end for a 10-point lead, the biggest of the game to that point.
Tummala followed with a leak-out dunk, then two free throws for a 51-37 UH lead.
Cal Poly responded with an 8-0 run fueled by UH turnovers, ended by two 1-and-1 free throws by Smith with 7:22 to go.
Jankovic followed with a long 3-pointer to build the lead back to double digits.
He appeared to hurt his right ankle getting fouled underneath the basket, but shook it off and made two free throws with four minutes left for a 12-point advantage.
Bobbitt converted two at the line with 2:33 left, and followed with a layup to beat the Mustangs’ pressure to keep it a 12-point game.
Morgan got a 3 to roll in with under two minutes left to cut it to nine, but Mike Thomas made two free throws and leaked out for a dunk after a Poly miss to help ice it.
Good win without Fleming. Great defense and steady offense. No reason why you cannot run the table.
Easy killa….one game at a time please.
Like EMS said, one game at a time is the approach they should take. A solid win against Cal Poly is not the same as playing against Irvine and their height. UH isn’t going to get easy buckets in the paint come Thursday night, but it’s still a winnable game…and the only game they should be focused on from now till then!
CONGRATS…
ROAD WARRIORS ROLL! Now come home and get ready to take out UCSI, twice in the next three games with UCSN in between! I BELIEVE IN THIS TEAM!
Unfortunately I believe we will be lucky to keep Ganot for more than two years. This team is very well coached. He may be as superstar coach. A+ hire.