This time around, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team left no doubt.
Coming off a last-second, one-point loss at Oregon last Tuesday and remembering a stunning two-point home defeat to East Texas A&M three years ago, the Warriors shot past the Lions, 100-74, Sunday night for a convincing victory in their regular season home opener.
An appreciative late night (8:06 p.m. tipoff) crowd of 1,937 in BankOh Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched UH take a 51-30 halftime lead and stretch it to over 30 in the second half to improve to 1-1. The Lions, who were known as Texas A&M – Commerce three years ago, fell to 1-2.
The Warriors also set a school record for free throws attempted, with 54. The previous record of 51 was set against Linfield way back in 1970. They also tied the program record for free throws made, with 37. That mark was set last season in January at Cal State Fullerton.
“We knew it was going to be very physical, and we weren’t going to win the physical battle if we were going to be on our heels,” Hawai’i coach Eran Ganot said. “So I loved that we squared up and we had screens and we got to the line.”
The Warriors came out strong and jumped to leads of 10-4 and 14-6 in the first seven minutes, but the Lions hung around and closed it to 18-16 after Noah Pagotto’s free throw with 8:19 remaining in the first half. But Hunter Erickson swished a 3-pointer from the left wing less than two minutes later to cap a 7-0 run to stretch the lead to 25-16, then later after East Texas A&M closed it to 33-26 with 3:26 on the clock, Dre Bullock drained a 3-pointer to ignite a 13-0 burst capped by Isaac Johnson’s free throw to make it 46-27 just 90 seconds before halftime.
“We didn’t want to force anything, we knew they have a very aggressive-style defense, and when you have teams like that, you beat pressure with pressure,” said Erickson, who finished with 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field. “You get in the paint, play off two feet — if it’s there, put it up, and if not there, then we’re gonna have them in rotation to get guys open, and that’s what happened today. I was on the receiving end of a couple of those, with those 3-point shots, the ball moving around the horn back to me, and it’s always nice to wait and pick your spots and get open shots.”
UH then opened the lead to 56-30 one minute into the second half after a 3-pointer by Harry Rouhliadeff, and it became a 30-point margin five minutes later when Isaiah Kerr capped a 14-5 run with a layup to make it 70-40.
“I thought the biggest takeaway from this game is that we need to be more physical,” said Johnson, who recorded the season’s first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. “The refs were calling fouls when there were fouls, I thought honestly on both sides. I thought they did a pretty good job. I think we just need to be more physical and take contact and work through it, just play basketball through that contact. We’ll have teams that are bigger and stronger, and we’ll have to be able to work through that contact and just play basketball.”
Bullock finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Gytis Nmeiksa added 14 points, four rebounds and two assists and Rouhliadeff and Isaac Finlinson each contributed 12 points. The 100-point total was the Warriors’ first century-mark game since scoring 114 points in an overtime victory over Long Beach State in 2017.
Hawai’i will next play host to Mississippi Valley State at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic first round.