UPDATED: Warriors rout UH-Hilo, 114-63
Taking little mercy on its “little brother,” the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team turned on the pressure and fired up the jets in the second half to rout UH-Hilo, 114-63, in non-conference action Thursday night before a crowd of 4,794 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Christian Standhardinger scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Isaac Fotu added 17 points and nine boards as the Warriors improved to 3-2. The Vulcans fell to 2-2.
“I’m proud of the way our guys played tonight, everybody who got in there played well and contributed,” UH Manoa coach Gib Arnold said. “I thought the Hilo coach (GE Coleman) prepared his team well and they did some good things that took us out of our game a little in the first half, but we’re a little bigger and deeper, and that’s why you saw the difference between the first half and the second half.”
Aaron Valdes added career-highs of 16 points and seven rebounds, Garrett Nevels contributed 11 points, three boards and three assists, and Keith Shamburger finished with 10 points, eight assists and just one turnover for the Warriors. Quincy Smith added seven points and seven assists, and Davis Rozitis also scored seven on 3-for-3 shooting.
Hilo started strong and led 8-6 four minutes in, but Standhardinger scored on back-to-back layups to start UH on a 17-3 run to make it 23-11 midway through the first half, and the Vulcans never got closer than nine points the rest of the way. After Hilo guard Darnell Williams drained a 3-pointer to cut it to 30-21 with 7:01 remaining in the first half, Valdes slammed home a putback to start the Warriors on a 10-2 run capped by Shamburger’s 3-pointer to make it 40-23 with 4:11 left.
UH led, 48-34, at halftme and began the second half with a 21-9 run in the first six minutes to extend the lead to 69-43.
“We played as hard as we would if we played Duke,” said Standhardinger, who also had two assists, two blocked shots and one steal in just 22 minutes of action. “That’s what this team is all about — we’ll play hard against anybody.”
By the end of the night, the numbers were impressive. The 114 points were the most scored by a Hawai’i team since the “Fabulous Five” in 1971. The 51-point final margin was the third largest in school history, topped only by a 67-point win over BYU-Hawai’I in 1962, and a 57-point victory over Redlands in 1972.
The Warriors also shot 62.7 percent from the field, and out-rebounded the Vulcans, 51-22. Standhardinger (10 for 12) and Fotu (7 for 9) combined to shoot 17-21 from the field.
The Warriors, employing full-court pressure for most of the game, wore down the Vulcans with a deep bench and kept the tempo fast by pushing the ball quickly upcourt after every defensive rebound.
The rotation included 5-foot-9 redshirt freshman guard Dyrbe Enos, a former Kamehameha Schools standout from ‘Aiea. Enos swished a 3-pointer from the right corner late in the first half for the first basket of his collegiate career, and then he nailed two more from beyond the arc in the second half to finish with nine points. He also added one assist, one blocked shot and a steal.
“It was really good to see Dyrbe get in there and knock down some shots,” Arnold said. “He’s a guy that has worked hard and moved into our rotation, he earned it.”
Enos played 13 minutes in the season opener against Tennessee State and eight minutes vs. New Mexico State, and made a short appearance in the loss to Missouri in Kansas City, Mo. last Saturday.
“He’s worked his way into the rotation, and we game plan with him (getting in),” Arnold said. “He’s set bigger goals for himself than just being that local guy who gets a couple minutes at the end of the game, he’s worked hard and I’m real proud of him. He can shoot it, he’s got a quick release, and if he keeps hitting shots and keeps his percentage up, he’s gonna help us. He’s going to continue to be a weapon for us to have.”
Williams led Hilo with 15 points — all but two coming in the first half — and four assists, Brandon Thomas added 12 points and four rebounds, and Joey Rodriguez contributed 10 points off the bench.
The Vulcans shot 42.9 percent (15 of 35) from the field in the first half but was held to 31.3 percent shooting (10 of 32) in the second, finishing 25 of 67 overall (37.3 percent). They made just 5 of 21 field goals from 3-point range.
“We set goals for this game — mostly defensive goals — just like we do for every game, and we worked on it all week,” Arnold said. “We wanted to hold them to under 40 percent (overall) and under 30 percent on 3-pointers, and we did that.”
Arnold said the depth and versatility of this year’s team not only allows for constant full-court pressure and a fast-break offense, but also an ability to freely switch when playing man-to-man halfcourt defense.
“Interchangeable parts — that’s the difference,” Arnold said. “We went about 10 minutes of switching on every screen, and we never could have done that before, but this team can. It’s one of our strengths. The foot quickness of this team is night and day from what it has been (in past years).”
The 66 points scored in the second half by the Warriors was one short of the program record of 67 set way back in 1959.
The Warriors will return to action Wednesday with a home game vs. New Orleans.
Photos courtesy Brandon Flores / www.brandonfloresphotography.com
Dyrbe, represent the 808!!, Play strong, no fear, just be a baller!
Finally, the return of local HS elite BB athlete to help team shoot 3 ball better!
Good job DB!
Go Bows!
😀
Agree with hoopsa, there on the tablet….Dyrbe, thanks to Enos family for supporting your decision to be a preferred basketball invite to UH MBB team. ONE OHANA bruddah!
Now is your turn, to help the TEAM win! And Mahalo to Gib for giving ALL of the team, all 14 active players a chance to play vs Hilo, and if they work hard in practice like Dyrbe, they will see court action too. This team just wants to Win as hoopsa says!
Uhfanzonly1.
Dyrbe has made the commitment and sacrifice to improve his game. It’s not easy going to bed early and rising early each day working out, going to school and studying, saying no to friends going out at night, and especially limiting or doing away with the girl/party chasing. But you gotta do it if you want to be a champion and get somewhere in life.
Need some okoles in the seats, gotta bring in some teams in pre season ,hopefully like, Utah St,
UNLV, a few thousand more will help our beleagured Athetic dept bank acct. Those two are some of our past WAC rivals.
I think this was a good game to keep our rhythm going. Could have been a better team we play but at the time of schedule they were supposed to be a better team. Good to have everybody play. Hackman needs to get bigger and stronger but his release is sweet. And good on you Dyrbe. You made me not look like a fool. You getting important minutes. I agree with servante, you are a different animal. You will have much success in your life.
Aloha Dayton…kinda off on a tangent, but I just read via ESPN news that Stefan Jankovic 6’11” sophomore from Mizzou is seeking a transfer.
Important to note…he lists Negus Webster-Chan as one of his close friends, one of the reasons Chan went there when he decommitted from Lousiville.
Things that make you go hmmmm???
Maybe Negus can convince Stefan to come to Hawaii then we’ll have two similar sized and similar named post players. We need to shore up that weakness in post defense next year, though if the Mizzou Stefan transfers here then he’ll probably sit for a year like Negus…
would be nice but I highly doubt it….hopefully he has been talking to gib and when we played them gib whispered in his ear during the handshakes lol….he has a lot of offense but he has to know that he’ll be a 4 mostly the 5 due to size and would have to play more defense….he’s a hard pass up but as of right now for next season i’d take a 6’9 shot blocker
TRIBEVx4 — Watch for a Reported (BM) Honolulu Star Advertiser feature Tuesday Morning on Emerging Hawai’i Star Aaron Valdes…Greatbto see AV getting into the Flow of the Game…
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Recruits… yes At Least Two Bigs, Ready to Play to Step Up the scholies anchored by Christian and Davis for Three Seasons…
Gotta agree with hfan, would be nice to have D1 transfer, however would have to sit out. After, playing against NMSU, Mizzou, and witnessing Louisville with the” teeth on the rim”, mistake erasing shot blockers, about 5 or so on Pitino’s team, Gib is going to get one, an athletic 6’9-6’11” guy whose role will be to protect the rim. You would think since Gib is losing Davis and Christian, the priority would be at least 2 of those type of guys, Would really make his team even better next year defensively. I just love so far, the way, these 17 guys, have bought into the Team concept, it shows. Just have to get on a roll, and get wins. I think they will be there come BWC tourney time, with the top 3.
Also, great that Gib has connections in Cali, Pacific NW, Chicago, the East now, and global, whatever happened to those Senegal athletes? the 6’8″ and 6’10” guys? Some great, raw athletic bigs who can be taught to guard the rim. Would be fun, if they can be here for 2 or 3 years, next year’s team would be awesome!
Eagle: If Airon V. can play with that energy, hi motor, above the rim, on D and O, that 3 spot, coming off the bench with Q, Thomas..who is awaiting breakout game(that guy has no fear too.), Rozitis, and our young guy Dyrbe, I like that second rotation 5, a lot of energy, on D and still running uptempo, UH could wear out a lot of teams who are not deep,and are equal talent with UH. the rougher ones, would be the top 25 teams, however, in a few months, watch out, UH keep getting better, ONE OHANA, I think they could play with any team, here or on the Continent!
Yes, TribeVx4, young AV, is starting to take flight, …NO FEAR…Air Cuba, just FLY..and SKY…