No bluff! Blowout by ‘Bows

The Hawaii men’s basketball team underwent a forced transformation over the course of a turbulent preseason. Friday’s halftime metamorphosis felt infinitely better.

UH enjoyed huge success with some spontaneous small ball as it buried Arkansas-Pine Bluff 85-57 with a late 21-0 run to make Benjy Taylor a winner in his debut as acting head coach of the Rainbow Warriors.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,852 was on hand for Taylor’s debut as the 20th head coach in program history. Taylor replaced Gib Arnold, who was fired on Oct. 28 amid an NCAA investigation as he prepared to enter his fifth season as coach.

The retooled Rainbow Warriors struggled offensively to kick off the 2014-15 season and led the Golden Lions by just a point at the break. But they circulated the ball effectively and shot 58.8 percent from there.

"The second half gave me a reason to smile," Taylor said. "But you know, it was a good win for the guys. We needed that. We needed to see some adversity, keep our composure and come out and do what we need to do in the second half, and that’s what we did."

Sophomore Aaron Valdes re-introduced himself Friday with a career night of 28 points on 11-for-15 shooting, nine rebounds and three steals. He played above his 6-foot-5 height as the ‘Bows won the rebounding battle 46-28.

After all UH endured over the past three weeks — the firing of Arnold and assistant Brandyn Akana, the departure of star forward Isaac Fotu and the interim status of Taylor — it was hard to ask for much more.

"It was perfect," Valdes said. "It was a slow start, but we’re not going to blow teams out in the first five minutes. … In the blink of an eye, we were up by 20. I didn’t even notice until I looked up at the scoreboard."

Missouri transfer Negus Webster-Chan added 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists in his first game in a UH uniform, while new point guard Roderick Bobbitt had 11 points, seven assists and three steals.

"I was loving it. It took me a full year to get back on that court and feel that energy from the fans," said Webster-Chan, who redshirted last season. "I couldn’t ask for a better place to play."

UH was 4-0 in season openers under Arnold, and Taylor — a former head coach at Chicago State who latched on as an assistant with Arnold’s original UH staff in 2010 — kept that going.

UH had to replace four starters, with senior shooting guard Garrett Nevels the only constant. Nevels missed his first five shots and largely struggled to an 11-point night on 4-for-12 shooting.

The ‘Bows were hardly recognizable from the team that eked out a 62-55 win over Division II Hawaii Pacific University in an exhibition last week.

The Golden Lions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference played a 2-3 zone almost exclusively, and looked to trap extensively. It worked often in the first half.

UH opened the second half with an 8-0 run, kicked off with a 3 by Valdes. After the opening run, he got a putback, flushed the ball after a steal and hit a pair of free throws for six quick points.

The ‘Bows went small in the last 10 minutes, at first by necessity — their two main post players, Mike Thomas and Stefan Jovanovic, each picked up their fourth fouls by the midpoint of the half.

Taylor was forced to put five guards on the court, but it turned out to be a blessing. Quincy Smith dunked in traffic and Bobbitt found Nevels for a fast-break 3. Bobbitt followed with his own 3, then Webster-Chan splashed one down for a 21-point lead with 5:48 to play.

UH coasted from there.

"I thought it was a good competitive game for about 33 minutes," Pine Bluff coach George Ivory said. "We gave that late run up in the second half and it really hurt us."

The game tipped off about an hour late because the first game of the tourney between High Point and Cal State Bakersfield went four overtimes. High Point pulled it out 100-99 in front of an amazed audience.