SALT LAKE CITY » Hawaii hung with BYU for three-quarters of Saturday’s matchup, but a pregame injury to guard Negus Webster-Chan and big games by BYU’s Tyler Haws and Kyle Collinsworth proved too much for the Rainbow Warriors.
Worn down and playing at altitude, Hawaii went down 90-70 at the hands of its old WAC rival.
Haws scored 30 points and Collinsworth had a triple-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, the third ever accomplished by a UH opponent.
The game was played before an announced crowd of 13,623 on what was officially a neutral site — EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, the home of the Utah Jazz and some 45 miles north of the Cougars’ home in Provo. BYU (7-2) has won nine straight in ESA over the past eight years, including a 78-57 victory over Hawaii in 2010.
An already shorthanded Hawaii team (7-3) took another hit when, 16 minutes before the game, Webster-Chan put up a shot and came down on a teammate’s foot, turning his ankle.
"I knew he wasn’t going to be able to play as soon as I saw it," said Hawaii coach Benjy Taylor, who added that he wasn’t sure of Webster-Chan’s status going forward. "And he would have been a mismatch problem for them. This would have been a big night for him. He could have had his come-out game against these guys. They would have struggled guarding him."
The team learned of the injury minutes before the tip-off when they were told backup point guard Quincy Smith would be starting and saw Webster-Chan on crutches. Even without him, the Warriors started strong. Hawaii went up 7-0 and led through much of the first half.
Aaron Valdes ended the game with 24 points to lead UH scoring. "And they would have had even more trouble guarding Negus because he’s a really good 3-point shooter," Taylor said.
The Warriors saw their early lead evaporate when BYU went on an 8-0 run to take the lead.
And after Hawaii went on a 13-0 run to go up 24-16 — shortly thereafter UH had its biggest lead of 26-17 — the Cougars answered with a 13-0 run to go up 30-26 with 2:53 remaining in the first half.
"I think we were just rushing our shots," Valdes said. "We got a little excited, especially in the first half being up by (nine). We’ve just got to learn to keep our composure."
"We got tired," added Hawaii sophomore forward Mike Thomas, who had eight points, five rebounds and four steals. "We weren’t really disciplined offensively."
BYU ended the half on a 20-4 run to lead 37-30.
Hawaii got to within four when point guard Roderick Bobbitt scored on a reverse layup with 11:04 to play, making it 54-50, but never came closer.
Bobbitt finished with 15 points, seven assists and five steals.
The game got out of hand in the latter stages, with the Cougars leading by as many as 24.
"We fought them as long as we could," Taylor said. "We had a bad three-minute, 50-second stretch in the first half and a four-minute stretch in the second half. They outscored us by 19 in those two stretches and that’s the game. And against this team, you can’t do that. You can have one or two bad possessions, but you can’t have three or four bad minutes."
"We can’t make any excuses," Valdes said. "What we got is what we got. Not having Negus was unfortunate, but we’ve still got to play with the guys we have."
Hawaii caught Haws and Collinsworth on one of their better games. Haws shot 9-for-17 from the field and 10-for-10 at the line for his second game in a row and third this season with 30 or more. Collinsworth turned in BYU’s first triple-double since 1988. The previous two UH opponent triple-doubles came in February 2012 in back-to-back games against New Mexico State and Montana.
"He does that almost every game and almost gets a triple double," said BYU coach Dave Rose. "I think in his leadership, what he brings to us every day in that aspect, is even bigger. No surprise to us."
Guard Chase Fischer added 20 points, five rebounds and five assists for BYU.
BYU 90, HAWAII 70
RAINBOW WARRIORS (7-3)
|
min |
fg-a |
ft-a |
rb |
pf |
pts |
| Nevels |
29 |
4-11 |
2-2 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
| Bobbit |
33 |
5-12 |
5-7 |
4 |
4 |
15 |
| Smith |
26 |
1-5 |
2-2 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| Valdes |
33 |
8-14 |
6-8 |
7 |
4 |
24 |
| Thomas |
26 |
4-9 |
0-0 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
| Fleming |
24 |
3-10 |
0-0 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
| Filipovich |
4 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Jawato |
7 |
0-2 |
0-0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Jovanovic |
18 |
0-2 |
0-1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
| TEAM |
|
|
|
3 |
| Totals |
200 |
25-66 |
15-20 |
30 |
20 |
70 |
COUGARS (7-2)
| |
min |
fg-a |
ft-a |
rb |
pf |
pts |
| Fischer |
32 |
6-11 |
4-5 |
5 |
2 |
20 |
| Haws |
34 |
9-17 |
10-10 |
7 |
2 |
30 |
| Collinsworth |
35 |
8-14 |
2-4 |
12 |
1 |
19 |
| Austin |
10 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
| Worthington |
12 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
| Ellis |
1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Andrus |
1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Sharp |
2 |
1-1 |
0-0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Toolson |
7 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Winder |
31 |
4-10 |
1-2 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
| Halford |
10 |
0-2 |
2-2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
| Bartley IV |
6 |
0-1 |
2-2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Nixon |
2 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Neilson |
1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Kaufusi |
16 |
1-1 |
2-2 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
| TEAM |
|
|
|
2 |
| Totals |
200 |
29-60 |
23-27 |
49 |
21 |
90 |
Halftime — BYU 37, Hawaii 30
3-point goals — Hawaii 5-18 (Valdes 2-2, Nevels 2-6, Fleming 1-4, Filipovich 0-1, Jawato 0-2, Bobbitt 0-3). BYU 9-24 (Fischer 4-9, Haws 2-5, Winder 2-6, Collinsworth 1-2, Halford 0-1, Bartley IV 0-1). Steals — Hawaii 13 (Bobbit 5, Thomas 4, Smith, Valdes, Fleming, Jovanovic). BYU 8 (Fischer 3, Winder 2, Haws, Collinsworth, Kaufusi). Turnovers — Hawaii 12 (Bobbit 4, Fleming 3, Valdes 2, Nevels, Smith, Jovanovic). BYU 19 (Collinsworth 6, Fischer 3, Winder 2, Neilson 2, Kaufusi 2, Haws, Ellis, Halford, Bartley IV). Assists — Hawaii 16 (Bobbit 7, Fleming 3, Valdes 2, Nevels, Smith, Thomas, Jovanovic). BYU 23 (Collinsworth 10, Winder 6, Fischer 5, Haws, Ellis). Blocked shots — Hawaii 2 (Thomas, Jovanovic). BYU 3 (Collinsworth 2, Winder). Officials — Frank Harvey, Nate Harris, Scott Brown. A — 13,623
