Warriors pull away from Chaminade, 94-84
LIHUE, Kaua’i — Christian Standhardinger scored 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Isaac Fotu added 18 points and six boards and Keith Shamburger finished with 17 points and five assists tonight to help the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team pull away from Chaminade, 94-84, in their first-ever game on the Garden Island.
A sold-out crowd of 800 packed tightly into Kaua’i High School gym watched the Warriors improve to 7-2 and the Silverswords fall to 4-4.
The game was tied at halftime and Chaminade led, 50-47, after Kevin Hu’s three-point play two minutes into the second half, but Shamburger answered with a layup 15 seconds later and Nevels’ deep 3-pointer gave UH the lead for good at 57-54 with 15:53 remaining in the game. The Warriors eventually stretched the lead to 80-69 on Fotu’s left-handed layup off a spin move with 6:02 left, and the Silverswords could no get closer than 84-78 with three minutes remaining.
Chaminade, playing without injured leading scorer Christophe Varidel, torched the nets in the first eight minutes and took leads of 9-2, 16-4 and then 25-10 after Lee Bailey’s 3-pointer with 12:14 remaining in the first half. Hawai’i’s full-court pressure then caused some disruption for the Silverswords and the Warriors chipped away, capping a 9-0 run with a crowd-pleasing alley-oop slam dunk by Quincy Smith off Shamburger’s assist to close it to 25-19 with 10:30 left.
Kiran Shasti’s 3-pointer extended the lead back to 30-19 a minute later, but Garrett Nevels’ 25-foot rainbow cut it to 32-26 with 6:18 remaining, and Shamburger later drained a 3-pointer to tie it at 34-34 two minutes later.
Neither team could take a lead of more than two points the rest of the half and they went into the locker rooms tied at 42-42.
Chaminade was 6 of 16 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range in the first half, with Kiran Shastri leading the way at 4-for-6 for 14 points, while UH was 5 of 14 (35.7 percent). The Warriors also made 17 of 23 free throws (73.9 percent), compared to 10 of 13 (76.9 percent).
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
Adding to Dayton’s story: Stanhardinger shot 7 of 9 (16 of 22 FTs), Fotu shot 7 for 7, Nevels shot 5 for 6 (4 of 5 3-pointers) and added 16 points.
Thanks to Chaminade, though outsized,having a couple of players ailing and stayed in Honolulu.. and in foul trouble, always give UH a great game. UH has to work on their Defense. They can score, averaging over 86 pts per game. Have to be able to shutdown, three point shooters, in first halves, and take care of ball.
Good thing UH won, if they lost,…whoa!
Now UH 7-2 going into a great matchup with Boise St. Hey , UH faithful, if you can make the game next sunday for DHC , great, nice to have 6000+, or so. …this team will be fun again in the Stanley!
UH cant be sleepwalking like that again. they were definitely caught looking ahead here.
Close game, i think Gib peeled the paint off the walls with his halftime speech. Well deserved we played to lose in first half ,played more like Warriors second half. A win is a win by the hair of Gib’s chinny chin chin . We’ll take any win. Gotta get some wins in Diamond Head Classic! Need a good RPI! Let’s pack the Stanley against Boise St ,come on students , fans , we need to get there and make that arena LOUD and intimidating for the Broncos ! Warrior Time!
We do need to get wins in the DHC, but let’s be real here, RPI doesnt matter AT ALL.
RPI, Pomeroy rankings, for those Big Major NCAA D1 conferences, that want NCAA at large bids. the SEC’s, Big Ten, PAC 12, ACC..Big West is a one NCAA bid team. Whomever wins the BWC tourney in March.
Maybe comes into play , Pomeroy or RPI, if UH wins the regular season title, and does not win the BWC tournament, how they would seed them for NIT, and or host, how many rounds.
NCAA, runs both the NCAA playoffs and the NIT.
As others have said, here, UH is playing for Two Championships come Jan-Mar 2014, the Regular season champs: NIT or the BWC tourney champ: NCAA’s…those are two great goals,
Do agree, that a win is a win, however, quite stressful for coach, and staff, that UH made it that tight of a game. UH did have a 25 point swing, from down 15, to end up winning by 10, so that was impressive.
Team, has to finish finals well, GPA, and getting work done towards degrees, then back to gym, work on D, and scout for Boise. That will be a real run and gun affair, I like UH’s chances, they seem to be able to score against DII, DI mid major, to Major DI like NMSU and Missouri. This team’s offensive firepower, probably best it has been in years. Just have to play major DI Defense, going into conference play, and the will be their in top 3, to contend for Post Season play