Hawaii men’s basketball team shrugs off mistakes to beat Alabama A&M

In a warm-up that turned into a fire drill, the University of Hawaii basketball team overcame self-inflicted mistakes and Alabama A&M’s pesky defense to escape with Saturday’s 71-63 victory in the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 2,790 saw the Rainbow Warriors hold off the Bulldogs to close their nonconference schedule and improve to 9-5.

“I don’t know if we solved anything,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We found some ways.”

Eddie Stansberry, who transferred from City College of San Francisco this past summer, scored a season-high 26 points, including the decisive three-point play with 1:16 to play. Post player Zigmars Raimo and wing Sheriff Drammeh had personal six-point runs. And forward Jack Purchase was a factor in the paint late in the game.

Those performances came against an opponent that entered with six victories in their previous 72 games over three seasons. The ’Bows were installed as 19.5-point favorites, but they had difficulty early and in second-half stretches against the Bulldogs’ 47-foot zone.

“We tried to prepare for the uniqueness of that one,” Ganot said. “It was a half-court, 1-2-2 (zone). We had some really sloppy plays.”

And when the ’Bows navigated past the first obstacle, they faced a 2-3 defensive scheme with matchup elements. The ’Bows committed 18 turnovers.

In their first 12 games, the Bulldogs connected on 29.5 percent of their 3-point shots. But they made eight of their 11 treys against the ’Bows in constructing two eight-point leads, at 28-20 and 31-23.

“I knew that was going to be tough to maintain,” AAMU coach Dylan Howard said of the sizzling 3-point shooting. “I mean, we haven’t been shooting the ball that great this year. And we knew they would make some adjustments, also. They started crowding our shooters a little more, so it made it tougher.”

Thanks to Stansberry, who was making his sixth consecutive start at guard, the ’Bows cut into the deficit. Stansberry hit his first five shots, including four from beyond the 3-point arc. The ’Bows scored eight in a row to tie it entering the intermission, with the surge starting with Stansberry’s three-point play and ending with a 3-point swish.

“Eddie kept us in the game offensively in the first half,” Ganot said.

Stansberry said: “My team was able to find good shots for me. My shots were feeling good in warm-ups. I tried to translate that to the game. Early on the shots, when they left my hands, they all felt good.”

It was 43-all when Raimo seized control. Raimo parlayed Purchase’s no-look pass into a layup, scored after rebounding his own miss, and then intercepted a pass at midcourt, drove and, after a rock-the-baby move, soared for a dunk to make it 49-43 with 13:02 to play.

Later, Drammeh buried two 3s from the left corner to widen a 53-48 lead to 59-48 with 9:01 to play. It was Drammeh’s first game since returning from a suspension and ankle injury a week ago.

“I thought Sheriff made some key plays at a critical time,” Ganot said. “It’s been coming on. He’s been working his way back. He’s healthier. And now he’s had a break-through on the floor.”

But the Bulldogs were able to make a final push, using a 9-0 run to close to 63-61 with 1:51 to play.

Soon after, Stansberry received a pass in the left corner. His 3-point shot rimmed out, but Purchase grabbed the rebound. Purchase then flipped the ball to Stansberry on a baseline move. Stansberry hit the layup, was fouled, and made the free throw for a 66-61 lead.

“That was a big-time play by Jack Purchase,” Stansberry said. “If it wasn’t for him and his rebound, I wouldn’t have had that layup. Jack set that up all for me. That was a winning play right there.”