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A dominant up-tempo effort by the Hawaii basketball team carried it to a 85-55 rout of Tennessee State to open the 2013-14 season tonight.
A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of about 4,500 saw fourth-year UH coach Gib Arnold remain perfect in season openers, as well as in Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Rainbow Classic games (7-0). UH takes on Western Michigan (1-0) on Saturday at 7:30 on Day 2 of the round-robin four-team tournament.
UH ended a four-game losing streak going back to last season, which ended at 17-15. The Rainbow Warriors outrebounded the Tigers 47-28 and committed only nine turnovers.
WMU defeated New Mexico State 70-64 in a closely played nightcap. David Brown scored 25 points on 8-for-16 shooting for the Broncos.
Most of UH’s second half became garbage time as senior forward Christian Standhardinger put up 20 points and 12 rebounds, sophomore forward Isaac Fotu added 16 points and eight boards and junior college transfer Garrett Nevels scored 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting.
Senior center Davis Rozitis added nine points and nine rebounds, mostly in the second half.
UH pressed fullcourt for most of the first half, forcing the Tigers into 11 of their 14 turnovers in the period.
The ‘Bows turned a 20-13 advantage into a 41-20 halftime lead with a 21-7 run fueled by pressure to close the first half.
Early runs of 7-0 and 9-0 had the ‘Bows up early — they reached 16-9 on Keith Shamburger’s first basket as a UH player. He finished with four assists and four steals against two turnovers.
UH shot 45.6 percent from the field to 36.8 percent for TSU, which went 18-15 last year but lost for of its starters.
