‘Bows show fight, beat Chaminade

HOOLEHUA, MOLOKAI » Hawaii made its first game on Molokai in any sport one to remember.

The Rainbow Warriors gave hoops fans at Molokai High School’s "The Barn" an offensive showcase in both hoops and sportsmanship as they scored 63 points in the first half, but also racked up four technical fouls in defeating Division II Chaminade 104-93 on Saturday night.

The game was equal parts exciting for both the right reasons and the wrong ones before a near-capacity crowd at the 2,000-seat Barn. Each team had six players score in double figures, with UH (5-3) finally prevailing behind a season-best 60 percent shooting from the field to snap a two-game losing streak.

"I thought our guys played great, inspired basketball with a lot of emotion," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "We needed to play with emotion after dropping a couple."

Arnold loved the Molokai experience, saying he’d like to return in future seasons. On the binge of techs, though, Arnold shook his head.

"I was disappointed. I definitely don’t like to see technicals. You gotta play the game with passion. The passion part I love. It has a limit, though; you don’t cross that."

UH was led by junior forward Christian Standhardinger, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Freshman forward Isaac Fotu had a career-high 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting, while junior guard Brandon Spearman also had 18, including the requisite free throws to put the game away in the final minute.

But the ‘Bows, perhaps jacked up to end their losing streak, twice got into it with their Division II neighbors.

The ‘Swords (3-7) took down Texas in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational last month, but dropped their sixth straight since then.

"It was a very competitive game. I knew that Hawaii was going to come out and come for a fight," Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird said. "I knew they wouldn’t take us lightly, and come ready for a fight."

They basically did. The most egregious play happened with UH up comfortably with 3:39 remaining. UH senior center Vander Joaquim dunked on Chaminade guard De’Andre Haskins and got fouled. Joaquim, who scored 11, went over to Haskins and got in his face afterward and shoved at him, and had to be held back by teammates. Joaquim was given a technical, as was senior point guard Jace Tavita, who escalated matters. It was Tavita’s second tech of the game and he was tossed.

Haskins, Chaminade’s best player, kept his cool throughout.

"I wasn’t really moved by the situation," said Haskins, who scored a team-best 21 points, as did guard Bennie Murray. "I just tried to be composed. A lot of guys started the commotion, but at the end of the day we try to hold ourselves accountable as best as we can."

Arnold said he was particularly disappointed in Tavita, a captain and floor leader. Arnold will review tape of the game and wait a 48-hour period before making a decision on any self-imposed sanctions.

Haskins made all four tech free throws to make it a 10-point game, and Chaminade’s Lee Bailey hit a 3 to make it 97-90 with 2:10 left.

The teams traded baskets, but Chaminade got no closer and Spearman — playing off the bench for the first time this season — hit four straight foul shots in the final minute to end it.

UH seemed sparked by an incident just six minutes into the game. Tavita and Chaminade freshman forward Kevin Hu went up for a ball tipped into the air. But Tavita made contact with Hu, and shoved him in retaliation. The teams formed a scrum at midcourt, but the emotions settled down for the moment. Tavita and Hu were assessed offsetting technicals.

In the first period, UH eclipsed its total point output for each of the last two games, and the ‘Bows tied their season high of 81 points with 10 minutes to play.

Chaminade was game for an up-tempo contest, but still dropped its sixth straight game after upsetting Texas in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational. The ‘Swords sizzled from long distance with 16-for-35 shooting on 3-pointers (45.7 percent).

But they couldn’t stop UH inside, as the ‘Bows had a 45-24 rebounding advantage. The ‘Bows dominated the interior behind Fotu, who played before his father and two siblings from New Zealand.

"We’re just down the street from them and we wanted to prove we’re the best on the island," said Fotu, who was also T’d up, apparently for throwing an elbow. "Some emotions got pretty high with a couple of players. That’s what happens in a rivalry game."

In a wild first half, UH rung up 63 points — three off the program record against Pepperdine in 1972 — and hit on eight of 11 3-point attempts.

UH improved to 4-0 in interisland games in three seasons under Arnold.

It was UH’s 38th first time hitting the century mark since scoring exactly 100 against South Carolina State on Dec. 29 last year.

Chaminade’s only official win over UH came in 1982, a week before the ‘Swords stunned top-ranked Virginia.