After a long offseason and preseason full of questions, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team answered a big one Monday night — “Is this squad good enough to win early?”
With a resounding “Yes,” the Warriors held off Pacific, 76-66, Monday night to win their first OUTRIGGER Rainbow Classic championship since 2017. An appreciative crowd of 2,390 in SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched reserve forward Gytis Nemeiksa score 18 points and grab a game-high 10 rebounds and combo guard Marcus Greene add 18 points, seven boards and two assists off the bench as UH improved to 3-0.
Elijah Fisher scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Elias Ralph added 17 points and eight boards to lead Pacific, which fell to 3-1.
“Very appreciative, to have a true Rainbow Classic championship game, with the history and tradition, the sponsors and all that goes behind it … really proud of our group,” Warriors coach Eran Ganot said. “Give respect to Pacific, that game could have gone either way.”
The Tigers jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes, only to see Hawai’i roar back with a 16-2 run capped by Jerome Palm’s putback to put the Warriors ahead, 18-11, with 11:27 remaining in the first half.
UH led 25-17 after Nemeiksa’s two free throws with 6:33 to go, but Pacific answered with a 14-2 surge as Fisher’s driving layup pushed the Tigers in front, 31-27, with 2:40 showing on the clock.
Pacific held on for a 37-35 halftime lead and was up, 41-35, two minutes into the second half after Lamar Washington’s layup. But Greene responded with a floater to ignite a 17-5 reversal culminating in Akira Jacobs’ layup to put the Warriors ahead, 52-46, nine minutes after the break.
The Tigers closed it to 56-55 on Ralph’s driving layup with 7:30 remaining in the game, but that was as close as Pacific would get as Nemeiksa tipped in a putback to start a decisive 10-2 surge that gave Hawai’i a 66-57 lead after Green’s two free throws three minutes later.
The play of Nemeiksa and Greene highlighted the Warriors’ stunning 44-6 advantage in bench scoring.
“Our team has really good depth,” said Nemeiksa, a 6-foot-8 graduate transfer from Xavier. “Everybody can play, everybody is working hard. If you’re playing good, everybody is cheering for you. If you’re playing bad, you’re cheering for them. So it’s just good chemistry, good teammates and good basketball.”
Greene went 6-for-6 from the free throw line, helping UH finish 23 of 29 (79.3 percent) from the charity stripe, compared to the Tigers’ 64.3 percent (18 for 28) on foul shots.
“It feels great to be able to play my first three games (for the Warriors) at home and bring our fans a championship,” said Greene, a 6-2 transfer from Houston Christian. “That’s amazing in itself.”