Controversial final shot beats Warriors
The first loss of the season for the Hawaii basketball team was a controversial one.
Cal Poly defeated the Warriors, 54-53, on a putback by Chris O’Brien as the final horn sounded at Mott Gym in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold argued with the officials that O’Brien’s basket should not have counted because it came after the horn. But because the game was not televised, there was no replay available for the officials to review, and so the basket counted.
After the game, Arnold went to his hotel room and reviewed the scouting video (which cannot be used by officials to review a play).
“We watched it a bunch of times, and it’s not the best quality video, but it really looks like the ball is still touching his hand when (the clock) gets to 0,” Arnold said. “But there was no replay, so nothing we could do about it. Tough way to lose.”
It was also the first loss of the season for the Warriors under first-year head coach Arnold. Hawaii opened the season with five consecutive wins – all at home – and is now 5-1.
“Close plays, close calls like that, their tough to get on the road,” Arnold said. “That’s why it’s so hard to win on the road – you really have to go out and win the game.”
The Warriors nearly did win it, despite playing their most sloppy game of the season. Hawaii committed a season-high 27 turnovers, and the 53 points was a season-low.
“I thought we defended pretty well and shot it pretty well when we took care of the ball,” Arnold said. “But 27 turnovers … that’ll kill you every time.”
Zane Johnson led a balanced Hawaii offense with 11 points, and Joston Thomas scored 10. Freshman Trevor Wiseman, making the first start of his career, added eight points and six rebounds. Vander Joaquim grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, leading the Warriors to a 34-24 advantage on the boards.
“I thought our young guys were good tonight, especially for a first road game,” Arnold said.
The Warriors trailed 52-48 with less than two minutes remaining, but rallied to take the lead late in the game. Johnson was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer, and proceeded to make all three free throws with 1:01 remaining to cut the Cal Poly lead to 52-51. Thomas then scored on a driving layup with 22 seconds left to put Hawaii ahead, 53-52.
The Mustangs had three shots at the basket on their final possession. “They made the plays at the end, so give them credit,” Arnold said.
In addition to the final basket, the referees missed a traveling violation by one of the Mustangs on that final possession.
“Things were going so fast at the end there, even I didn’t notice it,” Arnold said. “But when you see it on film, it’s a pretty obvious travel.”
The Mustangs shot just 33.3 percent from the field, while Hawaii shot 51.4 percent. However, the Hawaii turnovers also played a key role in that as the Mustangs took 54 shot attempts to Hawaii’s 35.
Shawn Lewis led Cal Poly with 15 points and David Hanson added 14. The Mustangs also beat Hawaii last season in Honolulu. Cal Poly is 3-3 this season.
The Warriors trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, but managed to take a 28-26 lead at intermission. The game stayed close throughout the second half.
“We’ll figure it out, we’ll get better because of this,” Arnold said.
Hawaii is scheduled to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday. The Warriors will play another road game against No. 21-ranked Brigham Young on Saturday.
Hawaii basketball teams have now lost 13 consecutive games away from home, a streak dating to the 2008-09 season.
Freeze Frames – The Final Putback:
[Video: SLOCalSports]
they played well in all but one phase. listening to the game, it sounded almost unreal they way the ball kept going the opposite direction.
the officiating…well, what can you say.
25 or 27 turnovers against a weak opponent in a band box gym in front of a small crowd means the team DID NOT play well. AND the coach needs to stop whining about the officiating, or it will come back and bite the team. Yes, it’s the road, but well-coached teams, even youthful ones, win on the road against over matched teams. Both players and coach have a lot to learn and a long way to go.
…um, we can say that 25+ turnovers doesnʻt cut it; we can say that, in the absence of Amis, we canʻt have Thomas have almost as many TOʻs as points; we can say that our D held them to 33% shooting (20% from 3) and yet we couldnʻt muster more than 54 points in a 40 minute intercollegiate game; we can say a lot of things – “the officiating” not being one of them.
Will be good to see how team responds w/o Amis in SLC vs. BYU. Will they crumble when BYU makes a run early or will they put up a consistent fight? Will leadership surface?
I imagine Arnold exhausts every timeout available to him – weʻre going to need those four media ones per half (assuming the game is televised on BYUʻs network).
If I were Cal Poly, I’d remove the video (even if it’s not officially reviewable).
It is pretty controversial when you see the freeze-frames. In the middle shot, you can see the red light turning on and the ball still in hand.
If only the game was televised and replay was available …
Shot #2 tells the story for me. The light is on. Any way we can appeal? This seems like enough video evidence.
Thankful that we have footage at all; that said, a division I collegiate basketball game in 2010 should not be decided by a lack of conventional technology.
If only they didnʻt have a middle schooler filming this, we would find out a) whether or not Thomas dogged it on the box out, as has been a trend for him so far this season; and b) how did Barnes get beasted on the backside.
The camera person may be the same one we have at the stadium – you know, the one who zooms in on the spiral instead of zooming out so we can see what transpired between the players.
Curious to find out reasoning behind personnel for last possession. Why Barnes and not Wiseman? Did he foul out? No putting in a big for the board, especially in zone?
Gave in and purchased subscription for 1 month for All access video. Even though video screen was small on our wide screen TV, my 84 year old mother and I both saw that the light and horn went off a spit second before the shot went in. Technically in real time and now from video evidence, Hawaii won the game.
It is true if Hawaii turned the ball over half as much , they win the game by ten or eleven points no question. For Hawaii to even be in a position to win, was a credit to the players and Gib. Heck, the boys have to play BYU respectable, within low single digits, ball control, every possession is precious, they come home 5 and 2 with HPU and Chicago State at home before Diamond Head. Chance to enter WAC at maybe 8 and 4 which would be well on their way to maybe 15 or 16 wins , if they improve…in every aspect of the game from coaching on down…
But hey, they could have lost to this team by 20, however there they were again, battling to the end. This team, hopefully will learn and continue to fight, which I know they will. Stay together guys and the wins will come!!
Aloha,
They should have made it tie score and played into overtime. Kind of like a jump ball, since the refs didn’t really know if they beat it or not.
kden.
Yeah, turnovers killed them, but it still sucks to lose a game in such a way. Hopefully they form a closer bond because of the controversial end. They’re still miles ahead of last year.
Too close to call, but I see the lights coming on…
should have never got to this point if they took care of the ball.
Better luck next game… BYU… Boy I would love to see this game in person in a NBA Utah Jazz Arena!!!
Would love to see ‘BO’ make 10 3’s from the NBA line!
Go Warriors!!!
And to Joston:
Please stop shooting 3’s and work on holding on to the ball, get under basket for rebounds and blocking shots! We don’t have Amis. We have Bo for 3’s. Please!!!
27 turnovers you are not going to win NO games on the road. Home cooking
is alive and well from the friendly confines away from Stan Sheriff Arena. To
win on the road you must get majority of shots inside as casting the “threes”
and not hitting a high percentage will only see an L despite the controversial call.
Secure rebounds as Mustangs got all the loose balls when it counted and the
controversial shot would not come up IF 27 turnovers did not play a factor in it.
Team is going in the right direction. Got to schedule tougher competition !
Hang tough Road Rainbow Warriors !
This isnʻt Arnoldʻs schedule; he inherited it.
The schedule is Eran Ganot’s best present to Gib Arnold and the fans. If the schedule were tougher, the fans might not be so enthused about this team and the coach. With Bill Amis the team would be 6-0 right now, and likely to finish the pre-conference schedule 10-2 or 9-3. Even without Amis, they wlll likely go into conference play with at least 8 wins. So far, this season reminds me of June Jone’s first year: inherits some veteran players, who aren’t super but are smart and adaptable; falls into a very soft schedule; orchestrates a huge turnaround going 9-3; and wins over the fans (enough to carry fan support through the next year when the team falls to 3-9 or something like that).
What a bummer. Let’s hope the next close one goes our way. 27 turnovers….:(