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’Bows hit free throws to hold off HPU

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Ryan Rapp took a shot against Hawaii Pacific Sharks Pavle Kuzmanovic during an NCAA Men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Nov. 26, at the SimpliFi Arena, Stan Sheriff Center.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Ryan Rapp took a shot against Hawaii Pacific Sharks Pavle Kuzmanovic during an NCAA Men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Nov. 26, at the SimpliFi Arena, Stan Sheriff Center.

Kody Williams, a 6-foot guard with a vertical jump of 47 1/2 inches, soared to new heights in lifting the Hawaii basketball team to Tuesday night’s 67-63 victory over Hawaii Pacific in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 1,816 saw Williams set single-game highs with 24 points and seven 3s. He also hit two key free throws with 17.8 seconds to play.

The ’Bows extended their lead to 64-61 on Marcus Greene’s two free throws with 29.4 seconds to play.

The Sharks worked the ball to the left side, where Charlie Weber tried to throw a lead pass to Sherman Brashear. But Brashear was not able to break cleanly to the corner, and the ball sailed out of bounds. Williams was fouled, and his two free throws gave the ’Bows’ a five-point cushion.

Jonas Visser’s layup with 5.7 seconds to go cut the deficit to 66-63. But Tanner Christensen caught Ryan Rapp’s long inbounds pass, was fouled, and sank one of two free throws to end the suspense.

After swishing four hook shots, HPU post Visser hit a layup to give the Sharks a 38-33 lead with two seconds left in the first half.

The Division II Sharks scored 14 of the game’s first 19 points, then used a 13-0 run to go ahead 34-25 with 2:39 remaining in the first half.

The Sharks used aggressive half-court defense, including a 2-3 zone, to clutter the lane. They also dropped a second defender to create a tag team on Christensen, who had two points on 1-for-2 shooting in the first half.

But the ’Bows were able to bounce back with deep shots. Rapp, fully recovered from an injury to his left hand, buried three 3s in a row to give the Warriors a 16-14 lead. Gytis Nemeiksa came off the bench to make two 3-point shots in a 9-point first half.

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