A line was drawn on Saturday night, and the Hawaii basketball team was on the right side of it in a 73-65 victory over Long Beach State in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 4,469 saw the Rainbow Warriors hit 10 of 28 shots from behind the 3-point line while stifling the Beach to 0-for-10 shooting on treys.
Forward Justin McKoy, who transferred from North Carolina last July, led the way with a career-high 26 points. He made 10 of 14 shots, shooting 4-for-7 from behind the arc.
Guard Noel Coleman, a UH tri-captain, contributed 18 points, including a clutch basket down the stretch. With the ’Bows clinging to a 67-61 lead, Coleman drove the lane and hooked in a shot with 48.7 seconds to play.
“I was just trying to make something happen because we were kind of in a scoring drought at the time,” Coleman said. “The clock was running down. I tried to help my team out any way I could.”
Earlier, with the shot clock down to a second, Coleman deked Jadon Jones and then hit a 3.
Coleman scored UH’s final four points on free throws.
The outcome boosted the ’Bows to 16-12 overall and 8-8 in the Big West. They ascended into a tie for the fourth seed in next month’s eight-team Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nev. The Beach, whose five-game winning streak came to an end, fell to 18-10 and 10-6.
“We knew this was a big game for us,” UH center Bernardo da Silva said. “We were focusing on making it happen. … We were trying to do our best without fouling. Overall, we did a good job.”
In the previous meeting between the teams, the Beach used 12-0 and 11-0 runs to deny the ’Bows in the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach. In that game, McKoy hit six of the ’Bows’ 12 3-pointers, but took only one shot in 14 minutes in the second half. On Saturday night, McKoy scored seven of the ’Bows’ first nine points. This time, in the second half, he scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds.
“It felt good,” McKoy said. “My teammates got me in all my sweet spots, and made me feel comfortable, and got me going early.”
Brad Davidson, who serves as the ’Bows’ offensive coordinator, noted McKoy “has played well against (the Beach) twice now. Although he did a really good job in the post, he also made some 3s. They lost him a little bit on the 3-point line. He’s been trending up for us. He gives us some stability in the post.”
McKoy also frustrated LBSU forward Aboubacar Traore into 4-for-10 shooting. Marcus Tsohonis, the Beach’s leading scorer at 17.1 points per game, did not play.
“Part of it was us focusing on their shooters on defense,” McKoy said. “When they’re not making shots and we’re making shots, that’s a big game-changer. It gets us off to a good start.”
The ’Bows also were able to weave through the Beach’s traps and three-quarter-court presses. “Noel did a good job in the press and attacking it in the end,” Davidson said. “I thought he got to the basket a few times.”
The ’Bows out-paced one of the nation’s fastest offenses to seize a 40-33 lead at the intermission.
The Beach entered averaging 15.2 seconds per possession, a tempo that allowed them to attack defenses, particularly in the low post. But the ’Bows matched the aggressiveness with their own inside-outside tactics. McKoy and da Silva parlayed lobs into layups. Guard Ryan Rapp also found openings on backdoor cuts.
And when the Beach packed the lane, the ’Bows were able to swish shots from behind the arc. The ’Bows connected on six of 17 3-point attempts in the first half, with McKoy making three of five. McKoy scored 15 first-half points.
On one of McKoy’s 3s, on a break, LBSU forward Lassina Traore fell with an apparent injury to his right leg. He was helped off the court and did not play in the final 2:39 of the first half. But Traore returned to start the second half.
