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UH men’s basketball team loses 64-54 at Pacific

 

The Hawaii men’s basketball team came up empty on its two-game California road trip after a 64-54 loss to Pacific at the Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, Calif., tonight.

The Rainbow Warriors (2-4) lost for the fourth time in five games after allowing a back-breaking 10-0 second-half run to the host Tigers (4-3).

Pacific, coming off a victory over four-time defending WAC champion Utah State, remained undefeated at home in four contests. The Tigers of the Big West Conference avenged a dramatic 75-70 loss to UH at the Stan Sheriff Center on Nov. 25.

UH fell behind by nine at the start of the second half, but sophomore point guard Bobby Miles hit a 3-pointer and sophomore guard Garrett Jefferson got a steal and three-point play to cut it to 43-40 with 12:30 to play.

Pacific extended its lead again until UH junior forward Joston Thomas put in a power basket to make it 48-46 with 8:20 left. 

But that’s when Pacific executed its run, and UH had no answer on a night its offense (35 percent shooting) was subpar. Several Tigers offensive rebounds in the final minutes sealed the game.

Thomas led UH with 11 points and nine rebounds.

UH’s top scorer on the season, senior guard Zane Johnson, was ice cold for both games of the trip — he had nine points on 2-for-10 shooting after scoring nine in a 73-67 loss against Pepperdine on Saturday. Second-leading scorer Shaquille Stokes was just as cold, going 2-for-9 for four points.

No one else picked up the long-range slack as UH finished 2-for-16 (13 percent) from deep.

Conversely, Tigers forward Khalil Kelley put in a career-high 15 points on 7-for-7 shooting with 13 rebounds.

UH started the game shooting 4-for-16, falling behind by the midpoint of the first half.

The ‘Bows trailed 29-21 amid poor shooting (36 percent) and nine first-half turnovers, but closed the first period with four straight free throws to cut the deficit to four at the break.

Only five second-half UH turnovers couldn’t offset the poor offensive night.

UH plays UC Davis in Honolulu on Sunday.

 

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