Winning ugly still counts as winning.
Hawaii emerged from its season-opening seven-game homestand above .500, as the Rainbow Warriors turned back Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a 64-44 rock fight on Sunday night.
UH (4-3) has a little time to breathe after a busy week that saw it rout Hawaii Hilo, fall in close fashion to Troy, and rebound with an ugly-but-effective effort against the Pine Bluff Golden Lions. The ’Bows don’t play again until the Pearl Harbor Invitational at Bloch Arena Dec. 6 and 7.
“We’ve had a crazy seven-game-in-18-day-stretch,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We’re very excited about practice.”
Pine Bluff (1-5) made its fifth trip to play at the Stan Sheriff Center in seven seasons, and after a temporary early lead, the result was no different for the financially challenged school in front of a crowd of 2,513. UH moved to 8-0 coming off a loss under Ganot and 20-0 all-time against Southwest Athletic Conference teams.
A tight game early — Pine Bluff led 12-6 when UH came out of the gate slow again — gradually bent into a rout for the hosts. Forward Gibson Johnson scored 13 on 6-for-8 shooting and Jack Purchase scored 11.
But it was the second-half contributions of lightly used junior Larry Lewis Jr. and freshman point guard Matt Owies that pushed a seven-point halftime lead into 20-point territory.
Both players — Owies had 11 points and Lewis 10 — submitted season-high performances.
“It was a good feeling,” said Lewis, a junior college transfer. “I struggled for the first … (part) of the season. Remembering plays, defensive floor position, all of that. I just hope that I can keep giving energy like tonight.”
Owies came out to start the second half in place of sophomore Brocke Stepteau — himself making his first career start at co-point guard next to Sheriff Drammeh.
“When I got my opportunity, I just made sure I was ready to play,” said Owies, who had four assists and three turnovers. “It was just being ready to go and pressuring on defense, and pushing the ball on offense.”
Pine Bluff felt the wrath of the whistles early and often — the final count was 27 fouls to 15 on UH — but when the Golden Lions eventually got to the line themselves, they couldn’t capitalize with a dismal 5-for-17 performance. Guard Ghiavonni Robinson scored all of his team-high 12 points in the first half.
Twenty-three turnovers to UH’s 15 also did in the visitors. UH outscored UAPB 25-10 off giveaways, compensating for 2-for-17 shooting on 3s.
“I told our guys even though there’s a foul discrepancy, you have to make shots,” UAPB coach George Ivory said. “We need to take care of free throws and turnovers.”
UH hit the Golden Lions with plenty of zone defense this time. Zone is Pine Bluff’s specialty, and it often extends it to the sidelines for traps. The ’Bows had some difficulty against it early, which contributed to another slow start. UH didn’t get on the board until more than four minutes had elapsed. It bore a resemblance to the performance that saw Troy take a 16-0 lead to start Friday’s game.
“This game’s very humbling. You have to honor it,” Ganot said. “For the second straight game, we did not.
“We tried some things (at half). … I thought, huge lift from the guys who wanted to play.”
An anemic first half came to a close with UH leading 29-22 despite going 0-for-12 on 3s. Pine Bluff was assessed 10 more fouls than UH (15-5) in the period.
Johnson scored inside on consecutive possessions to open the half to extend the lead to 11.
Lewis scored a three-point play in transition with 14:48 left to end a scoring drought of more than four minutes and put UH back up double digits. He followed with another fast-break bucket and a free throw to exceed his season scoring total entering the night.
Owies and Purchase hit consecutive 3s to launch a 13-0 run that helped put the game away during a six-minute scoring drought by the Lions. The lead was 23 at its largest, 59-36.
“Attack that zone, because we’re kind of passing the ball around too much,” Owies said. “There wasn’t too much getting the ball in the high post. We made that the focus in the second half.”
They helped make up for a quiet night from leading scorer Noah Allen, who was held to seven points on 1-for-7 shooting.
