HONOLULU — On “Taylor Swift Night,” the Hawaii basketball team found itself in trouble, trouble, trouble …
After an admittedly flat first half, the Rainbow Warriors rallied to within three points before UC Irvine pulled away for Thursday’s 60-50 victory at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 2,994 saw the ‘Bows fall to 9-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big West. The Anteaters improved to 12-5 and 5-0.
“I don’t think with that first half,” guard Juan Munoz said of the ‘Bows’ 33-20 deficit, “I don’t think we deserve to, you know, kind of come out with that win. I thought we came out flat. I thought we were playing selfishly, and that’s something we talked about at the half. We kind of changed the way we played (after the intermission). We came out different in the second half.”
After UH closed to 48-45 on Munoz’s arcing 3 from the right wing with 8:59 to play, the Anteaters regained control. Backup center Carter Welling scored on a hook shot over 7-foot-1 Mor Seck. Then with 7:26 left, Welling’s slam extended UCI’s lead to 52-45. Justin Hohn added two free throws as the margin stretched to 54-45 with 6:09 to play.
“We just stuck together,” UCI center Bent Leuchten said. “We knew they were going to make a run. We expected it, so we could handle it.”
Point guard Pierre Crockrell II scored 16 points and directed the Anteaters’ offense with pitchouts off drives.
“He’s the heart and soul of the team,” Leuchten said of Crockrell. “He was a positive. He came through when we needed him.”
Crockrell, whose mother grew up in Mililani, was spurred by 30 family members and friends attending the game. Crockrell and the Anteaters also found motivation from last year’s loss on the ‘Bows’ senior night.
“Last year we came out here on their senior night, (and) the performance we put out there kind of stuck with us coming into this game,” Crockrell said. “This was kind of fuel to our fire.”
The Anteaters’ strategy was to harass the ‘Bows’ outside shooters, then create layers of help defense in the lane. The ‘Bows missed 14 of 17 shots from outside the arc.
“They’re really oriented to shoot 3s,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “The percentage of 3s they take is a lot. They rely on ball screens to create those. So we did a good job of beating screens and putting pressure on the ball. We could bother them if we did a few things well. I thought our attention to detail and execution of our game plan was good tonight defensively. When we play at that level defensively, we’re able to frustrate teams. That’s what happened tonight”
UH center Bernardo da Silva scored 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting — all on layups, turn-around jumpers and baby hooks — and grabbed 14 rebounds.
But UH point guard JoVon McClanahan was 2-for-12, missing his four 3-point shots, and Noel Coleman was scoreless in 32 minutes, 14 seconds.
“I think the key tonight was to come out and play really good defense to fuel our offense to play together and stay together for 40 minutes,” Crockrell said.
In a challenging first half, the ‘Bows had difficulty from the free-throw line and 3-point range. The ‘Bows missed all five of their 3s in the first half. They also hit only two of eight free throws. In a rarity, UH coach Eran Ganot was assessed a technical. The ensuing two free throws extended the Anteaters’ lead to 29-17 with 4:04 remaining in the first half.
The ‘Bows finished 5-for-14 on free throws.
With a boost from Munoz and wing Ryan Rapp, the ‘Bows attempted a comeback that eventually did not last. Munoz said unity was the half-time message.
“I felt we picked it up in the second half,” Munoz said. “We just need to do it for 40 minutes and not 20.”
UH will next take the court at 7 p.m. tonight against UC-Riverside at home.
