Warriors win Rainbow Classic
Vander Joaquim scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his first start of the season, Brandon Spearman added 15 points and Christian Standhardinger contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds late Monday night/early Tuesday morning as the Hawai’i men’s basketball team ran past Houston Baptist, 73-60, to win the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Rainbow Classic.
A witching hour crowd of about 2,500 at Stan Sheriff Center watched the Warriors improve to 3-0 heading into Friday’s home game against Illinois. Houston Baptist fell to 2-1. Monday’s game, which began at 11:05 p.m., was part of ESPN’s annual College Tip-Off Marathon.
Joaquim, a 6-10 center, played 19 minutes in each of UH’s first two games after recovering from a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee on Sept. 29 and logged 26 minutes against Houston Baptist. He scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds by halftime as the Warriors jumped out to a comfortable 38-23 lead. Spearman had 10 points in the first half.
Hawai’i stretched the lead to 55-35 seven minutes into the second half and 70-48 with 4:10 remaining, and the Huskies never got closer than 71-60 with 36 seconds left.
Hauns Brereton added 11 points and six rebounds and Jace Tavita had eight assists for the Warriors.
Joaquim was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and was joined by Standhardinger, Spearman and Brereton on the All-Tournament Team.
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
congrats!!
Love the cohesiveness of the bunch. This year will be a great year!!
Great job Coaching Staff!!!
Three up, three down! Glad the team took care of business this weekend.
Good Progress & Progression …
Handling the Team that handled Maryland Eastern Shore and Arkansas Pine Bluff with double-digit leads most of their games, is a good step-up; shutting down previously hot-shooting Houston Baptist on National TV…and struggling through and ‘answering’ the third straight desperation catch-up attempt … turnovers higher than we might like but actually better at this stage than previous years…
Good Performances (Jace averaging Nine Assists per game), Very Visible Growth spurts for Manroop Clair and Brandon Spearman give some reason for optimism on the ‘projected backcourt weakness’…
NEXT TEST Friday with BigTenner Illinois…
I’m expecting we’ll see another level step-up for the Home Team…
Congrats to the Warriors! And a big shout out to Hauns Brereton! How is it to be a two time winner at the Rainbow Classic on two different teams?
Fantastic!
with a lead and a good bench I wonder why other backcourt players are not being given PT
This is the time when all player should be given the chance to gain experience is case they are called on in the regular season.
well, I thinks the 3 Frosh for now in rotation are Fotu(garans), Pavlovic and Clair. There’s still a whole lot of games to be played and my guess is things will change. I mean you got returnees Jefferson, Rozitis, rs Frosh Jawato on the pine with no minutes last night. Coach is probably giving these new recruits the reps for the future season ahead in Conference play.
Spearman already looks like a returnee of sorts, like he’s played here for a couple of years already. The starters are playing pretty steady.
This team is fun to watch. I like that they are hustling and getting out on the fast break. I still think we’ll have big problems with teams with a decent press, though. Our bigs really hustle and that will help in the regular season.
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