Warriors rout Long Beach State, 94-73
A sizzling first half was more than enough to carry the Hawai’i basketball team to a 94-73 victory over first-place Long Beach State in a Big West Conference showdown at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday night.
The Warriors raced to a 33-point lead in the first half, and then held off the 49ers in the second half.
Hawai’i improved to 14-9 overall with its fourth consecutive victory, and moved into a tie for second place in the Big West at 8-4. The 49ers had their eight-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 13-9 overall and 9-2 in the conference.
Hauns Brereton scored 21 points to lead five Warriors in double-figure points. Christian Standhardinger continued his torrid pace with 20 points and 13 rebounds, Vander Joaquim scored 18, Brandon Spearman 16, and Brandon Jawato 12.
The Warriors shot 54.2 percent from the field and dominated the boards, 46-21.
The Warriors opened the game with a 16-5 surge in the first five minutes and basically ran away with it after that. A 25-3 run by the Warriors over an eight-minute stretch later in the first half increased the lead to 41-13.
By halftime, the Warriors had a stunning 53-20 advantage. Standhardinger (13), Jawato (12) and Joaquim (12) were all in double-figure scoring in the first half. Joaquim’s difficult turnaround jumper from the baseline went in as the first-half horn sounded, setting off a raucous celebration in the arena.
That celebration would turn cautious as soon as the second half started, when the 49ers came out with a full-court defense that stymied the Warriors. Long Beach out-scored the Warriors 25-8 in the first seven minutes of the second half to cut the Hawai’i lead to 61-45.
The 14-point margin was the closest the 49ers would get, and the Warriors were able to pull away again at the end.
The Warriors will play another Big West Conference home game on Saturday when they host UC Irvine.
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
There’s The Beach, then there’s the King of the Beach!
Stanhardinger another double-double (20/13). Plus, four other players in double figures led by Hauns’ 21.
What a first half; little tight in the second half, but toughed it out for a big-time victory.
Awesome job, guys. Great looking crowd, too. Nice to see the student section filling up.
Awesome Work Warriors!
Memphis: Happy to see Hauns persevere through a tough time and get back on track. He’s a great young man; got to meet him briefly after a summer league game.
Very awesome win!
Note: Illinois takes down #1 Indiana tonight also. A great basketball day!
Woohoo, Hauns!
Great job guys! What a 1st half. In the 2nd half Long Beach made it interesting at times, but Hawaii hung in tough. Hats off to the 3 “old guys” for leading the team. Keep up the energy guys.
Go Warriors!
Great game Warriors!! A special shout out to Jamie Smith for bringing together a very impressive student turnout to the game tonight!
This team is starting to gel and I really like this tight lineup that Gib has settled on. I expect big things from this team the rest of the year and I have bought my tickets for the Big West Tournament. See you there!!!
Awesome win guys – fantastic leadership again by Hauns, Christian and Jace.
First of all, GOOD JOB COACHING GIB AND STAFF! You really worked well with the seniors and uppeclassmen, 3 seniors and 3 juniors and two outstanding freshman. The Elite Eight!
Stay on track, have mind set, YOU GUYS are out to win every single game remaining. Keep getting better. don’t regress, The Manoa Maniacs, and all students are FANTASTIC, great support, fun game and atmosphere.
Now, scout, work it, Irvine coming in as TRAP game, don’t let the Irvine MBB team get you guys at the Stan Sheriff center. protect home court, and keep on winning.
Keep improving, ..true, you guys had a HUGE lead, and didn’t know what to do, however, great closeout, have to take care of ball though, get a little nervous at end, however, you closed it out with a 21 point win, over the League Leader.
And for all posters to this forum, keep the faith, UH MBB warriors, have to keep on winning!
Good job Gib! Guys: Great effort, great coaching, get UC Irvine, you owe them one!
Great job warriors Protected the House! Christian the Lion Hearted!
Hope we get 7500+ for warriors game against Irvine. The team is really exciting, playing as a team, and winning. come out, great college atmosphere with the Manoa Maniacs, only 4 more BWC games and 1 Bracket Buster game to go at home in the Stan Sheriff Center. Come out and support the guys! Team has made a huge turn around. Thanks guys, great effort, keep working it, would be fantastic if you guys got hot, and swept 3 in BWC tourney and went NCAA dancing! Go for it.!
NO FEAR! Beast the Big West!!
Apologies fans, made mistake! only 3 more BWC games and 1 Bracket Buster game to go at home in the Stan Sheriff Center. 3 on the road, so total of 7 more games remaining in regular season.
Come on out, great atmosphere, am sure Ben Jay is smiling!
GREAT Job, ‘Bows, Coaches, Students, Fans…
WINS Continuing; Keep Going, Saturday ..
Biggest, Loudest Crowd?
WIN, Then Take it All Back On The Road…
KEEP Improving
Winning Close Games, ALL Games is Good
Blowin’ Out Teams comes with Intensity And Consistency…
SERVE NOTICE To Big West
Hawai’i IS Now Arriving
Showing Up, Ready to Play, Ready to Roll
Sweep Some Series
Otherwise, Make it Two of Three by Winning in the Tourney…
GET Your Tickets to Anaheim Honda Center …
May Be Beyond…
this happened on Thursday night, right? not Saturday
You cannot credit only 8 players. It’s the entire team including Manroop, Michael, Ozren. Davis, Keith, Caleb, Aaron, and Drbe. These guys work hard, scrimmage, and play the role of the opposition in practice. All are freshman except Keith. Freshman Isaac, well he’s a beast as a true freshman. Jawato is a redshirt freshman but more like a soph. All these guys will improve and will make the next step in 2014. There’s a lot of BB left this season. Injuries, knock on wood, happens.
I was shocked seeing a 33 point lead at the half, happily. It happens. Saturday will be rocking.
Great win. We are finally getting to see the team play to it’s potential. What I saw in the first half was a team playing like a top 25 team. Ball movement was much better, UH was aggressive on both ends of the floor. It helped that The Beach couldn’t hit the ocean from a boat.
Second half got a little scary, but almost every team lets down after halftime with a big lead at half. Happens all the time. What got everybody nervous was how UH was giving up it’s lead. The Beach used a full court man press and got UH to speed up and UH panicked under the pressure.
I think The Beach started to gas out around the 10min mark and they didn’t have the depth to keep it up. UH was able to break the press and get some easy buckets once The Beach started to fatigue, then they were able to keep the lead around 17 the rest of the way.
Gib needs to change the way they inbound vs a FC press. Right now, it’s Tavita and Brereton starting at the top of the key and then they come back to the passer and flow to the corners to get open, however, that’s exactly where the defense wants them to catch the ball. If the offense catches the inbound pass in the corners, that allows the defense to set their trap and use the out of bounds lines as a 3rd trapper. Also, when the guards catch the ball, their momentum is going away from their half, so it makes it harder to turn and get the ball up court via pass or dribble. Plus the corner is the furthest distance to get across half court, so that puts a 10sec violation in play.
The adjustment is to have the guards start below the hoop or edge of paint, then they run a pick to force the defense to switch or fight through the screen. Somebody will get open unless there’s a sloppy screen. When the UH guards flash open, their momentum is going horizontally toward the sideline (not the corner), which is easier to position for a pass or dribble. In the front court, if the guards can’t initially get open, then the forwards can then break and comeback as an safety.
The whole key to beating any press is getting the ball in the middle of the court. The defense can’t effectively trap when there’s no sideline to pin the ball handler. There’s a ton of ways to do this but the 1st pass cannot be in the corner unless the next pass leaves before the trap is set.