Updated with video: Warriors hold off Tigers, 75-70
The best offense was good defense for the Hawaii basketball team in a 75-70 victory over Pacific on Friday night, November 25.
Garrett Jefferson and Trevor Wiseman – regarded as the two best defensive players on the Hawaii squad – came up with key baskets in the final minute to lead the Warriors to the win.
Jefferson’s putback with 3.1 seconds remaining broke a 70-70 tie and proved to be the game-winner.
“I just tried to run and get the rebound and I wasn’t close to the ball; (Trevor Wiseman) actually tipped the ball to me and I shot a layup and got fouled and it went in,” said Jefferson, a 6-foot-3 sophomore.
A crowd of 5,930 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Warriors snap a two-game losing streak to improve to 2-2. Pacific is also 2-2.
“The last game we lost at home, I really didn’t feel good about us,” Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold said. “I think we let our fans down that last game. I thought we didn’t bring it and it had a bad taste in our mouth.
“I thought we just needed to get a win underneath our belts and feel good about ourselves, so yeah, it was a necessary win.”
Zane Johnson led the Warriors with 21 points, despite an off shooting night. He went 4 of 17 from the field, including 3 of 12 from 3-point range. However, he did connect on 10 of 11 free throws.
Joston Thomas, making his first start of this season, contributed 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out with 4:33 remaining.
“The last couple weeks, Joston has done a good job in practice and I think he’s starting to understand his role, what we need him to do for the team,” Arnold said. “It’s good to see him back out there because he can really help us.”
Wiseman contributed 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. His steal and ensuing layup with 32 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 70-67 lead.
“I was just surprised he lost the ball,” Wiseman said. “I didn’t know what happened. I just saw the ball on the floor and I was like ‘oh, I gotta score now.’
“I think we just wanted it more. It was tough losing two games in a row … we just wanted to go out there and win today.”
Arnold said of Wiseman: “That’s kind of why we keep him around. The guy has a 10 and 10 night. He was just there … that’s what Trevor does. He’s always around the action.”
Pacific tied the game at 70-all with 13 seconds remaining on a 3-pointer by Trevin Harris.
On Hawaii’s ensuing possession, Shaquille Stokes missed a 3-pointer, and Wiseman tapped the long rebound to Jefferson, who was left alone near the basket. Jefferson made the putback, and was fouled in the process. He banked in the free throw to give Hawaii a 73-70 lead.
“You look at the stat sheet and it doesn’t look like (Jefferson) really did anything, except for maybe he won the game,” Arnold said.
Pacific then threw the ball away on its final possession, and Johnson drained two free throws for the final two points of the game to make it 75-70.
“Those are plays that you make if you keep playing hard,” Arnold said of the closing minute. “Those are plays that you make if you’re always hustling, and you get a little lucky that way, and I think we got a little lucky.”
Freshman point guard Stokes finished with six points on 2-of-9 shooting, but he had 10 assists with just one turnover. Davis Rozits contributed eight points on 4-of-4 shooting, and also grabbed three rebounds.
Hawaii trailed by as many as six points early in the game, but rallied to take a 33-25 lead late in the first half. The Warriors eventually took a 36-33 lead at intermission, with Johnson accounting for 17 first-half points.
Hawaii had a nine-point lead at 63-54 with 5:52 remaining in the second half. The Tigers rallied to tie it, but could never regain the lead from the Warriors.
Lorenzo McCloud led Pacific with 23 points, including 11 of 15 free throws. Rundell Mauge added 10 points and five rebounds.
The game was the first of two in a rare home-and-home series for non-conference opponents. The teams will meet again on December 6 at Stockton, Calif.
“We’re still expecting the same result,” Wiseman said with a laugh.
It also served as a preview of things to come, as both teams will be members of the Big West Conference in the 2012-13 season.
Hawaii’s next two games will be on the road – December 3 at Pepperdine, followed by the December 6 rematch against Pacific. The next home game will be December 11 against UC Davis.
(Photos courtesy Brandon Flores)
Now take ’em on their home court !!!!!
Tonight good enough to beat Pacific and some lousy officiating …
@ Pepperdine and @ Pacific …
on the road … you’ve got to be 10 points plus or more better than the opposition to overcome the type of “referee-ing” they saw tonight …
Keep Improving … the Pepperdine & Pacific road games should pay dividends when we Hit the WAC Road this year (and maybe even some when we enter the Big West Next year) …
Ideally We Keep Improving so We Win As We Learn …
Shaq 10 assists to one turnover … good trend …
Trevor with key rebounds and another double-double … even took a three which i infer means his confidence in his shot is (deservedly) up; hit the shorter jumpers in earlier games;
Joston — Big Jump to using up his available minutes-fouls to help the team — looked real good in tandem with Trevor and kept his focus mostly on the court and more inside where they need his help …
Rozitis may be on the verge of a break-out game … starting to look steady even against the quick-short-athletic team(s)…
Hauns — those shots are gonna start falling real soon; on-ball defense looking better, got longer minutes …
Garrett Jefferson looking more offensive to go with his ‘green-light wild-card’ defense (coach said he has the authority to do whatever his instincts lead him to on defense — he’s that good)
Vander & Zane — Steady — Help on the Way [Joston, Hauns, etc. ++]
what’s the rule for that thru the basket from the bottom? i tried finding it online and saw something where it should’ve been our ball out of bounds. just one of many ???? calls by the officials.
Exciting game tonight. Nice to get the win.Nice to see #5 have a good game he’s fun to watch. Much better energy tonight from the team as a whole. Looks like the chemestry could get a little better though. 21 got his too normal 5 min of playing time but at least he made the most of it. 3 points five minutes and a lot of hustle good job. Hope you get some more time, waiting to see you have that breakout game. d looks better too. keep scrapping.
jet-lag, long practices caused worn-out from poor body conditioning (in time it will help, take years!).
Wiseman was wise to said that “it’s the energy!” (any marathoner will concurs.. will generate intripidity).
you can do it! you knew you got it. ‘da way to go, TEAM’.
Good to see Brereton hit 100% of his shots.
Um…you’re being sarcastic right? Brereton shot 33% last night.
Dayton,
What’s with Bereton??, he’s at the bottom of the totem pole, playing-time/pt.s??? Was expecting more out of this recruit?
Hauns was suppose to be a scorer with a jump shot coming out of his Nebraska jc college, recuited also by BYU, don’t know why his shots are so bad, the guy should be used to college ball ,speed of game by now. com on Hauns! You gotta bring it !!!
Hauns gotta work on his defense first
Breretons shots are not bad he just doesn’t get a lot of time or shots, he missed a three and a mid two but they were close. only played five minutes in this game hard to get a game going with that little time. His D looks ok to me I don”t know what all of you who say his D sucks are watching . You all act like he is the only one opposing teams score on????????he plays as well as most of the other players and if alowed to get warmed up in a game and get some more looks at the basket he would score much more than he cost the team. seen it. He can’t do that when he scores after two or three minutes in the game then is pulled out. Last night he was hustling on D and made a tough shot and the foul and then he sat the bench for the rest of the game. Once again ?????????? Same at Gonzaga 3 pts three minutes E washington 2ptts five minutes. No one else on the team would do any better. The other shooters didn’t score in the first six to ten minutes of the game last night and I think it was longer in some of the other games. So say what you will but seems a waste to sit a shooter right after he makes a shot and not an honest criticism to blame the player for not scoring more when he plays so little.
A win is win warriors!
Great to see Shaq’s 10:1 assist to turnover ratio.
Our hopeful, eventual starting five come March:
PG: Shaq
SG: Zane
SF: Joston
PF: Trevor
C: Vander
How is Miah gonna work in the mix when he returns?
To make it strong through the Conference Season, You Need 8-10 players, preferably two to three deep at every position which we probably won’t have ’til next season, (then two strong players at every position, maybe, the year after)
i had ‘forgotten’ we (potentially) have Miah in the wings (like Blakes, Biggs & Stevens, it is all a promissory note ’til they really show up, Miah was even injured — but he is a proven Entity And Impact Player…); maybe they don’t need to immediately activate Orel Lev when he shows up in January to provide outside shooting strength and depth … because
Miah should be one of the better three shooters (and passer ball-handlers); he’s already talkin’ with Shaq, and Coach Gib has already shown how he can use two (he’s said, even three) “point guards” at the same time, especially if two of them are good three shooters (Shaq & Miah) — at the time he was also considering Trevor as a potential Point Forward which is how he’s playing now (Notice when he rebounds, he doesn’t usually make outlet passes; instead he spins up court to lead the fast break);
I think the reason Brereton did not playmuch was because Wiseman, Thomas, Jefferson, and Rozitis were having good games. So the only time Brereton could come in was to give the players a short breather. I think when someone has a bad game then Brereton will see more playing time. After the Pacific game Brereton is the 4th player off the bench. He will just have to inch his way up with each game and keep improving. He is a quality player and just needs to have a hot start and his confidence will come around.
i for one, am glad that joston thomas has apparently climbed out of the doghouse.
Hauns didn’t take “bad” shots, but the one three he took almost wedged between the rim and the backboard. That’s not close. His defense did look improved and he looked a little more comfortable out there. Hopefully his shots start falling.
Vander even kicked the ball back out a couple times and seemed to make his decisions with the ball a little quicker. Zane’s shot wasn’t falling in the second half and we were still able to pull out the W. This team is definitely improving, which is what has to happen every game for us to make a run in the WAC.
i expect both Davis Rozitis and Hauns Brereton to have break-out games …
they both have skills so far untapped, and are capable of much more …patience ….
Our Leading Scorer (Zane) pretty much starte out last year “invisible” even though he had a full redshirt year and a D-1 season @ Arizona before breaking in his defense and activating the rest of his game & talents …
it’ll happen ….
and the team will be that much better ….