Roderick Bobbitt was cold. Cold-blooded.

Hawaii’s new point guard iced a 72-65 win over Cal State Bakersfield with nine free-throw makes in the final 4:15, allowing the Rainbow Warriors to separate from the Roadrunners and move to 2-0 under acting head coach Benjy Taylor.

Bobbitt was 9-for-9 at the line. The rest of the team was 13-for-27.

"My teammates have trust in me … I just had to deliver," said Bobbitt, a transfer from Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College. "Playing the point guard position, you want to get fouled in the game and shoot the free throws. I don’t want to run away from the challenge."

A crowd of 3,970 was present on the second day of the 50th Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic, which doubled as "Star Wars Night," a repeat of the successful theme of two seasons ago. Bobbitt and the ‘Bows had a forceful grip on the end result, but it was in doubt much of the way.

UH trailed by as many as 10 in the first half and by six at halftime. But they committed only four turnovers in the second period, after 10 in the first. A 15-0 run turned a nine-point second-half deficit into a six-point lead.

The teams swapped the advantage a few times from there, but Bobbitt was clutch. The first of his free throws put UH ahead for good at the 4:15 mark. He followed it up with a three-point play and was perfect on six more from the stripe in the final minute, when the Roadrunners had to resort to fouling.

Bobbitt finished with 16 points, seven assists and three steals.

"He’s just a winner," Taylor said. "He wanted the ball. We wanted the ball in his hands. … He’s always going to flirt with a double double. Maybe even a triple double eventually. He’s a heck of a player and showed a lot of maturity."

UH now faces High Point (2-0) for the Rainbow Classic championship at 11:59 p.m. Monday. The game is part of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-off Marathon. HPU defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 74-62 in Saturday’s first game.

Swingman Negus Webster-Chan added 15 points for UH and shooting guard Garrett Nevels scored 12. But aside from Bobbitt’s heroics, the career-high 10 points off the bench (on 4-for-4 shooting) from sophomore center Stefan Jovanovic were some of the biggest of the night.

Jovanovic was matched up against Bakersfield’s 6-9, 270-pound center Aly Ahmed. The Roadrunners of the new-look Western Athletic Conference sought to play through Ahmed, a junior from Egypt.

UH went away from its customary man-to-man and to a 1-2-2 zone to combat Ahmed. Ahmed scored 18 on 8-for-15 shooting, but Jovanovic answered the bell when UH went man.

"He’s a really good player," Jovanovic said of Ahmed. "I just stuck to the plan that Coach Benjy told me to do. I just tried to stay behind him, between him and the rim. That’s pretty much it."

UH’s only true center also stepped out for a 16-footer without hesitation, giving UH a six-point lead with 1:28 to play.

"I didn’t really think about it. I instinctively did it," Jovanovic said.

Said Bobbitt: "I’ve seen him hit that shot in practice before … I knew he could knock it down."

Bakersfield guard Javonte Maynor came back with a 3 and hit another to make it 67-65 with 31 seconds left. But Nevels made two at the line, Isaac Fleming went 1-for-2 and Bobbitt hit two more to ice it. As a team, UH converted 12 of its last 13 at the stripe.

UH went with the same smallish starting five from Friday’s 28-point win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, but the 6-11 Jovanovic started the second half to help battle Ahmed.

CSUB (0-2) was held to 38.7 percent shooting and committed 19 turnovers. The Roadrunners were coming off a 100-99 loss to High Point in quadruple overtime on Friday, but stayed ahead for most of the first 30 minutes by making free throws and playing off Ahmed.

"We missed some shots, but I’m proud of these kids," Bakersfield coach Rod Barnes said. "When you get 36 free throws to 11 free throws, you put yourself in a difficult position."

UH turned up the intensity with its athleticism and ball pressure during its second-half run, similar to 21 unanswered points on Friday vs. Pine Bluff.

Fleming hit a pull-up 3 and Quincy Smith stole the ensuing inbounds pass and was fouled by Ahmed, who picked up his third and took a seat with 13:59 to play.

Aaron Valdes hit two free throws to make it a 10-0 run and UH forced a 10-second backcourt violation.

Valdes, who was lights-out with 28 points in Friday’s win, was held to just six points. He was hampered by foul trouble, committing his third with 6:38 to play in the first half.

Fleming also picked up his third foul by the half, when UH trailed 34-28.

UH missed its first six free throws, including the front end of two 1-and-1s. It was 3-for-10 in the period, while Bakersfield converted all seven of its attempts at the line.

Freshman forward Sammis Reyes dressed to play, unlike Friday’s game, after rejoining the team on Thursday. But the 6-foot-6 Chilean did not see action.

HAWAII 72, CSU BAKERSFIELD 65

ROADRUNNERS (0-2)

WARRIORS (2-0)

Key — min: minutes played; fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points.

Halftime — CSU Bakersfield 34, Hawaii 28.
3-point goals — CSU Bakersfield 7-23 (Corbin 3-4, Maynor 3-8, Airington 1-4, Abdul Ahmed 0-1, Conners 0-2, Richmond 0-4). Hawaii 8-19 (Webster-Chan 3-5, Nevels 2-4, Valdes 1-2, Fleming 1-2, Bobbitt 1-5, Thomas 0-1). Steals — CSU Bakersfield 3 (Richmond, Wrapp, Airington). Hawaii 10 (Bobbitt 3, Nevels 2, Fleming 2, Smith 2, Webster-Chan). Turnovers — CSU Bakersfield 19 (Corbin 3, Aly Ahmed 3, Wrapp 3, Airington 3, Mays 2, Maynor, Richmond, Conners, Jones, TEAM). Hawaii 14 (Smith 7, Bobbitt 2, Valdes 2, Fleming 2, Jovanovic). Assists — CSU Bakersfield 14 (Airington 4, Aly Ahmed 3, Wrapp 2, Corbin 2, Richmond 2, Conners). Hawaii 14 (Bobbitt 7, Fleming 3, Webster-Chan 2, Thomas 2). Blocked shots — CSU Bakersfield 2 (Airington 2). Hawaii 5 (Jovanovic 2, Nevels, Webster-Chan, Thomas). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Tony Padilla, Donn Berdahl, Michael Scyphers. A — 3,970.