Thirty, 40, 50. Hawaii’s shots kept falling and its lead kept growing until the gap over Hawaii Hilo reached near-historic proportions.
The Rainbow Warriors stomped on the accelerator and attained the seventh-most points in program history in a 114-63 rout of the Vulcans on Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
UH (3-2) rebounded from back-to-back losses to New Mexico State and Missouri by running past UHH and finishing with its third-largest margin of victory at 51.
"I think we played as hard as we would play Duke," said UH senior forward Christian Standhardinger, who shot 10-for-12 on a series of layups for a game-high 22 points. "That’s what this team’s all about. We play hard no matter what. No matter which team, we don’t fear anybody and we don’t underestimate anybody."
With four minutes left, the only question left was if the ‘Bows would match the program record of 125 points set in the Fab Five days of 1972 against Pepperdine.
"Overall it was a good night," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "I thought we played well for 40 minutes. … I was pleased with the outcome, but I liked the effort too. That’s the way you should play when you come off a loss."
The ‘Bows did it in front of a crowd below 3,000 by building off a 14-point halftime lead and outscoring the gassed Vulcans 66-29 in the second half.
The first of two Division II opponents on the regular-season schedule couldn’t hang with the ‘Bows for long. The Vulcans (2-2) were also disadvantaged by playing on back-to-back nights after defeating Western State in Hilo on Wednesday. They flew into Oahu on Thursday morning.
The 39th 100-point game in UH history marked the third straight year the ‘Bows reached the century mark — with the most recent two coming against PacWest Conference teams.
Standhardinger led five players in double figures as UH shot a season-best 62.7 percent from the field and held the Vulcans to 37.3 percent.
Basically every statistical category went to the motivated Rainbow Warriors, who pressed fullcourt heavily and substituted liberally from the early going. They finished with a 70-22 advantage in points in the paint, 20-2 in points off turnovers and 22-2 on second-chance points.
They dominated the rebounding battle handily, 51-22, against an undersized team picked to finish in the bottom third of the PacWest under new coach GE Coleman.
"We backed down a little bit. I felt we got intimidated," said Coleman, who replaced 15-year coach Jeff Law in the offseason. "They came out strong in the second half and I don’t think we responded well."
UH sophomore Isaac Fotu added 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting with a game-high nine rebounds, freshman Aaron Valdes chipped in 16 points, Garrett Nevels scored 11 and Keith Shamburger had 10 points with eight assists. Backup point guard Quincy Smith had seven points and seven dimes as the second half became an alley-oop fest.
UH opened 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 of the game at the other end. The guard finished with nine points — the first nine of his career.
"He has bigger goals than being a local guy who gets minutes here or there," Arnold said. "He’s worked hard … he’s in the rotation. It was good to get him some real minutes tonight. It was good to see that shot go in; we’re going to continue to rely on that."
HAWAII 114, HAWAII HILO 63 |
VULCANS (2-2) |
|
fg-a |
ft-a |
rb |
pf |
pts |
a |
to |
min |
Perkins |
0-4 |
2-2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
Williams |
7-16 |
0-0 |
1 |
0 |
15 |
4 |
5 |
28 |
Owens |
1-5 |
0-0 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
31 |
Thomas |
5-8 |
2-4 |
4 |
3 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
28 |
Campbell |
3-5 |
0-0 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
Clayton |
1-6 |
0-1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
18 |
Swanson |
3-7 |
0-0 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
Rodriguez |
3-8 |
4-5 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
1 |
3 |
21 |
Dyachenko |
1-4 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
Dancer |
1-4 |
0-0 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
17 |
TEAM |
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
1 |
Totals |
25-67 |
8-12 |
22 |
16 |
63 |
13 |
15 |
200 |
|
RAINBOW WARRIORS (3-2) |
|
fg-a |
ft-a |
rb |
pf |
pts |
a |
to |
min |
Shamburger |
4-6 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
8 |
1 |
24 |
Nevels |
5-8 |
0-0 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
24 |
Spearman |
3-7 |
0-0 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
Stanhardinger |
10-12 |
2-5 |
8 |
1 |
22 |
2 |
0 |
22 |
Fotu |
7-9 |
3-4 |
9 |
2 |
17 |
0 |
3 |
19 |
Jawato |
0-3 |
0-0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
Enos |
3-5 |
0-0 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
15 |
Smith |
2-3 |
3-3 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
7 |
1 |
12 |
Rozitis |
3-3 |
1-1 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
Jovanovic |
1-3 |
0-0 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
Hackman |
1-1 |
0-0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Valdes |
7-11 |
2-5 |
7 |
2 |
16 |
1 |
2 |
15 |
Harper |
0-2 |
0-0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
Thomas |
1-2 |
2-4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
13 |
TEAM |
|
|
5 |
Totals |
47-75 |
13-22 |
51 |
16 |
114 |
26 |
11 |
200 |
Halftime — Hawaii 48, Hawaii Hilo 34.
3-points goals — Hawaii Hilo 5-21 (Swason 2-5, Owens 1-2, Williams 1-3, Dyachenko 1-4, Perkins 0-2, Clayton 0-2, Rodriguez 0-3). Hawaii 7-18 (Enos 3-3, Shamburger 2-3, Hackman 1-1, Nevels 1-3, Harper 0-1, Spearman 0-2, Valdes 0-2, Jawato 0-3). Steals — Hawaii Hilo 5 (Owens 2, Williams, Campbell, Clayton). Hawaii 7 (Spearman 3, Shamburger, Standhardinger, Enos, Thomas). Blocked shots — Hawaii Hilo 3 (Perkins, Campbell, Dancer). Hawaii 9 (Nevels 3, Standhardinger 2, Fotu, Jawato, Enos, Valdes). Technicals — none. Officials — Ryan Wells, Todd Apo, Anthony Collazo. A—Not provided.