The Hawaii basketball team went to great length — 2 hours, 18 minutes — to outlast Cal Poly 83-73 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A Saturday night crowd of 3,561 saw the ’Bows end a three-game losing streak to improve to 11-10 overall and 3-6 in the Big West. If the regular season were to end today, the ’Bows would have the seventh seed in the eight-team Big West Tournament.
The ’Bows used a balanced attack and aggressive defense to widen their lead to double digits in the second half. The Mustangs, who fell to 4-17 and 0-9, were forced to repeatedly — and frequently — foul in a desperate comeback attempt.
“We have some guys who haven’t been in this experience before,” Cal Poly coach John Smith said. “When adversity hits, they tend to lose a little bit of focus. Once Hawaii got some momentum, we had to play helter skelter to try to get back into it. That’s not the way we wanted to play.”
The Mustangs committed 11 fouls — some intentionally — in the final 3:26. The ’Bows scored 23 of their final 25 points on free throws.
“We were trying to go 3-for-1,” Smith said of the tactic of trading free throws for 3-point shots. “We know they’ll probably shoot 50% with Bernardo (da Silva). But he stepped up and knocked down some free throws. And they made sure he didn’t get it again. We tried to get it out of some people’s hands. But they did what they needed to do. We have to get back to the drawing board.”
Da Silva, UH’s 6-foot-9 center, drew 12 fouls, leading to 16 free throws. He converted seven, including four of his last seven.
Noel Coleman was 11-for-12 on free throws, JoVon McClanahan made all six, and Juan Munoz was 4-for-5.
McClanahan said the ’Bows “honed in” on free-throw shooting in practices. After Thursday night’s game, da Silva went back onto the court to work on his shooting.
“I know Bernardo is working,” McClanahan said. “He’ll keep working at it. … As long as we close games like that, and knock down free throws, it’ll put us in better position to keep the lead.”
In the second half, the Mustangs committed 23 fouls. Three Mustangs fouled out, and starters Kobe Sanders, Tuukka Jaakkola and Aron Price finished with four fouls apiece. The ’Bows converted 31 of 37 free throws in the second half.
“I’m proud of our guys,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “I can’t remember the last time we had 46 free throws. To their credit, they tried to extend the game. We had a couple miscommunications we can’t have (in the final three minutes). They hit some tough bank 3s, but we hung in there.”
Despite a stagnant start, the ’Bows relied on balanced scoring to take a 26-23 lead into the intermission.
The ’Bows tweaked their opening lineup again, with freshman Tom Beattie starting at the three. He was assigned the 6-foot-8 Sanders, who entered as Cal Poly’s leading scorer. Forward Justin McKoy, who finished with 13 points, also took a turn guarding Sanders.
For the second consecutive game, McClanahan did not start. But he entered midway through the opening half, and hit two baskets. Each of the nine ’Bows who played in the first half scored at least two points ahead of the intermission.
“Navigating through some things, going through different combinations, I’m happy for our guys,” Ganot said. “I think we’ll break through shooting. We have to make sure our defense and rebounding are there while we improve defensively.”
Coleman led the ’Bows with 23 points. Da Silva grabbed 10 rebounds. And Munoz coaxed defenders to cover him at the top of the key, opening the way for passes to cutters in the post. “We have to keep playing hard … come out of the gate really hard, and share the ball,” Coleman said.
Sanders hit 11 of 13 free throws — all in the second half — to finish with 32 points. It was the third time he scored at least 30 points this season.
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