The University of Hawaii basketball team went back to the drawing board and then crafted Sunday’s 76-51 victory over Mississippi Valley State in the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 2,664 saw the Rainbow Warriors resurrect a defensive effort that had been lacking in the previous game against Division II UH Hilo.
On Sunday, the ‘Bows smothered the Delta Devils into 35-percent shooting, including one of 12 from behind the 3-point arc. The ‘Bows spent final-exam week doing extra work on their man-to-man defense.
“That’s been our mentality all week,” point guard Drew Buggs said. “We went back to work on the defensive end. We made a lot of adjustments. We went back to basics and tried to focus on point of attack and team defense. I think we did a good job in the first half. … We had a lot of stretches where we they had to shoot a lot of tough shots.”
The ‘Bows were without one of their top perimeter defenders. Ganot confirmed that Sheriff Drammeh, a 6-foot-3 senior, was suspended indefinitely because of a “violation of team rules.” Ganot did not elaborate other than to indicate the situation will be evaluated. Drammeh did not attend the game. Ganot said Drammeh remains on the team.
When healthy, Drammeh has started, opening in six of the ‘Bows’ first nine games. Eddie Stansberry, a sharp-shooting reserve, made his first NCAA start. Stansberry transferred from City College of San Francisco this past summer.
“He’s kind of been a sixth starter for us,” Ganot said of Stansberry. “He earned (the start) and practiced well. That’s kind of what we do.”
Stansberry hit four of 10 shots, finishing with 11 points. He was one of four ‘Bows to score in double figures. But Stansberry drained a key 3 during a 17-2 first-half surge that expanded a 17-15 lead to 34-17. The ‘Bows scored 22 of the final 27 points of the first half.
Stansberry also disrupted the Delta Devils’ motion offense, slipping through screens and denying drives. “I think Eddie did a good job defensively,” post player Zigmars Raimo said.
Raimo, at 6 feet 8, faced tall and wide challenges. He defended 7-foot Aleksa Koracin, who was held to two points and two rebounds, and 6-foot-7, 275-pound Kaleb Allison. Raimo said Allison was “more like a football player. More likely, he was going in to my body every single time. … I was doing my best.”
Allison scored 10 points, all in the second half when the Delta Devils went with a new lineup after the intermission. There were some careless moments — 10 of the 16 turnovers came in the second half — but the ‘Bows weathered several MVSU spurts. The ‘Bows rotated their three 7-foot freshmen, found a spark from reserves Leland Green (jumper as time expired in the first half and four-point play late in the game) and Samuta Avea, and leadership from Buggs. Buggs scored a team-high 13 points and distributed six assists, including two on behind-the-back passes.
That proved to be too much for the Delta Devils, who dropped to 2-11. This was their 10th road game.
“I thought we just made a lot of crucial mistakes at crucial times,” MVSU coach Andre Payne said. “We were playing a solid game, a solid defensive game, and then we couldn’t put the ball in the basket. So once you start missing so many shots … they come back to bite you.”