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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii's Isaac Fotu goes up over Hilo's Brandon Thomas, back, and Dominique Campbell during the first half of a men's college basketball game between the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Manoa.
The Hawaii basketball team scored the seventh-most points in program history in a 114-63 rout of Hawaii Hilo Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The 39th 100-point game in program history marked the third straight year UH reached the century mark. Senior forward Christian Standhardinger led five Rainbow Warriors in double figures with 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting, as UH (3-2) shot 62.7 percent from the field.
UH looked to get back in the win column coming off consecutive losses to New Mexico State and Missouri. It resulted in the third-largest margin of victory ever by UH.
The ‘Bows did that in front of a crowd of less than 3,000 by building off a 14-point halftime lead and outscoring the Division II Vulcans (2-2) 66-29 in the second half.
UH improved to 6-0 all-time in the series against its sister school.
The ‘Bows pressed fullcourt heavily and substituted liberally from the early going. They finished with a 70-22 advantage in points in the paint.
They won the rebounding battle handily (51-22) against a team picked to finish in the bottom third of the PacWest Conference under new coach GE Coleman.
Isaac Fotu added 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting, freshman Aaron Valdes chipped in 16 points off the bench, Garrett Nevels scored 11 and Keith Shamburger had 10 points with eight assists.
UH opened up its first 20-point lead on a pull-up 3-pointer by Shamburger with 16:51 to play.
Redshirt freshman Dyrbe Enos, a Kamehameha product, followed with a block of a Vulcans drive then hit his second 3-pointer of the gameat the other end.
The margin reached 30 on a putback by Davis Rozitis with 12:51 left.
Nevels threw down an alley-oop dunk from Shamburger in transition to make it 92-52, and another (to cap) a 14-0 UH run.
UH went up a whopping 50 on two free throws by backup point guard Quincy Smith with five minutes left.
The first of two Division II opponents UH will face this year couldn’t hang with the ‘Bows for long. The Vulcans were playing on back-to-back nights after defeating Western State in Hilo on Wednesday.
UHH looked to shoot very early in the shot clock and made its first three shots for a 6-3 lead.
The ‘Bows asserted control from there, though, going up 23-11 on an 8-0 run.
Junior guard Darnell Williams kept the Vulcans within range by making six of his first eight shots for 13 points in the first 14 minutes. He finished with 15.
Enos hit a 3 with 5:35 left in the period for the first points of his UH career.
Standhardinger had 14 points in the first half as UH took a 48-34 lead into the break on 57.1 percent shooting.
UH resumes play on Wednesday at the Stan Sheriff Center at against New Orleans.
