The Hawaii basketball team reclaimed its mojo in a 69-56 victory over Cal Poly at the Mott Athletics Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Two nights after their worst defensive performance of the season, the Rainbow Warriors held the Mustangs to 39.6% shooting, including 15.4% from behind the arc. The Mustangs missed all seven second-half 3s in losing their 11th in a row to fall to 7-17 overall and 1-11 in the Big West.
The ’Bows moved into a third-place tie while improving to 17-7 and 8-4. They were one of the league’s top defensive teams until a recent lull.
“It was a step,” UH coach Eran Ganot said of containing the Mustangs’ multiple-set offense. “We’ve got to get back to where we were and beyond. Before we do that, we’ve to take a step. It was good to see the defense. I thought our offense was flowing really well.”
Kamaka Hepa, a 6-foot-10 forward, led the ’Bows with 29 points and six rebounds. Hepa entered 11-for-13 on free throws in his first 11 Big West games. On Saturday, Hepa drew seven fouls, leading to 11-for-12 shooting from the line. He connected on all six free throws after twice being fouled while attempting a 3.
“Kamaka did a great job of creating contact,” UH associate head coach John Montgomery said. “That was a huge plus.”
Ganot said: “Kamaka is an intelligent and mature young man who just went back to work. He was aggressive. He got back to the line. He did other things. He’s always been a good shooter. … We told him to get to the glass, get in transition, get to the line, post up.”
Hepa hit seven of 11 shots, and was 4-for-6 on 3s.
Samuta Avea made two 3s and all six free throws to finish with 18 points for the ’Bows. Point guard JoVon McClanahan had six assists against one turnover.
“The stars played really well in terms of Kamaka and Samuta, and JoVon running the show,” Ganot said. “Really proud of our guys for their ability to bounce back for this game.”
This was the most demanding of the ’Bows’ four road trips this season. After Thursday’s loss to UC Davis, the ’Bows were on a 41⁄2-hour bus ride to San Luis Obispo. After Saturday’s victory, they made the 31⁄2 drive to Los Angeles, where they checked into a hotel ahead of this morning’s flight to Honolulu.
In between bus rides, Montgomery said, “I just think we got our guys refocused. We hold our hat on defense, and we held them to 39%, and 15% from 3. So that was more like Hawaii defense.”
The ’Bows’ strategy was to counter the Mustangs’ plan of feeding 6-8 forward Alimamy Koroma in the low post. The ’Bows often sent a second defender to tag-team Koroma, who scored the Mustangs’ first seven points but was blanked the remaining 15 minutes of the first half. He opened the second half with three buckets in the first six minutes but managed only a field goal and two free throws after that.
Mor Seck covered Koroma when UH center Bernardo da Silva got into foul trouble. Guard/wing Beon Riley and point guard Kody Williams came off the bench to provide defensive support.
“We’re not going to save ourselves,” Montgomery said of the ’Bows’ high-energy coverage. “We’ve got to play as hard as we can. I thought we had good contributions off the bench. Kody came in defended. Beon came off the bench and defended. Mor did a good job defensively on their big guy.”
Hawaii at Cal Poly boxscore by Honolulu Star-Advertiser
