When 6-foot, 10-inch center Vander Joaquim nailed a fall-away jumper from the right baseline at the buzzer Thursday night, his University of Hawaii men’s basketball teammates mobbed him and celebrated like it was the game winner.
The thing was, it was just the first half buzzer.
It turned out the Rainbow Warriors weren’t far from wrong on a night when one half of great basketball and the 33-point lead it produced was enough to make up for one miserable one and carry them to a 94-73 victory over Big West Conference-leading — for now, at least — Long Beach State.
With their fourth consecutive victory, the ‘Bows (14-9 overall and 8-4 in conference) ended an eight-game run by the Beach (13-9, 9-2) and moved percentage points away from second-place Pacific (7-3) in the conference.
How they did it had the assembled crowd of nearly 6,000 at the Stan Sheriff Center shaking their heads. Relieved, to be sure, but also more than a little exasperated.
For the ‘Bows played by far their best half of basketball this season in a stunning 53-20 first half. The 53 points they hung on The Beach was more than Ohio State, Syracuse, Arizona, North Carolina or UCLA could manage this season.
Only against Chaminade (63) had UH had a bigger first half this season.
On "60s Night" the ‘Bows were fully capable of putting up 60 points with sizzling 58.8 shooting, including 7-of-12 accuracy from 3-point range. All you need to know is that guard Brandon Jawato came off the bench and managed 12 points in his first seven minutes. Even a pass he threw almost went in the basket.
Long Beach State has never won in the arena and on a night when it would have had trouble hitting the broad side of Diamond Head with 20 percent first-half shooting — and 1 of 9 from 3-point range — you knew early on this wasn’t going to break the trend.
One of the most remarkable things, however, might have been the ‘Bows’ turnovers, or lack thereof. They had but five in the first half.
Most remarkable, however, was that The Beach didn’t press in the first half and, indeed, showed little inclination for tightening down on defense, which, given UH’s well-documented ballhandling problems, was curious indeed.
After UH suffered 17 turnovers in a 76-72 loss last month at The Pyramid, including several debilitating ones in the final minutes, it was a wonder was the 49ers didn’t press from the time they got off the bus in Manoa. But they didn’t and that is something bound to occupy them on the flight home.
Not until The Beach emerged from the locker room at halftime did it apply a press. When The Beach did, it resulted in 18 second-half UH turnovers and, in one prolonged stretch, better than a turnover a minute as the 49ers closed to 14 points four times.
Meanwhile, the ‘Bows can look forward to their conference stretch run secure in the knowledge that to win in the Big West requires that you be half great or great for just a half.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
