Warriors hold off UC Davis, 78-62
Stefan Jankovic scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Quincy Smith added 18 points and three assists tonight to help Hawai’i hold off visiting UC Davis, 78-62, in Big West Conference men’s basketball action.
A spirited Stan Sheriff Center “Super Hero Night” crowd of 9,289 watched Isaac Fleming add 13 points and four assists as the Rainbow Warriors improved to 16-2 overall — the program’s best start since the “Fabulous Five” era 44 years ago — and 5-0 in league play. The Aggies fell to 7-11, 2-3.
After UH took a slim 37-35 lead into halftime, UC Davis power forward Josh Fox tied it on a layup 21 seconds into the second half. Rainbow Warrior reserve forward Sai Tummala later broke a 41-41 tie with a 3-pointer from near the top of the key to put Hawai’i ahead for good with 15:59 remaining, and Fleming followed that with a 3-pointer from the right corner and a baseline layup to make it 49-41 with 14:11 on the clock.
The Aggies closed it to 51-46 on Brynton Lemar’s baseline floater with 12:53 left, but Smith answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing 30 seconds later and UC Davis never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Fox, who entered the evening averaging 13.5 points per game, finished the first half with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting — mostly on close to mid-range jumpers. He finished with a game-high 25 points. Jankovic had 16 points in the first half, on 6-of-7 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range. He also had five rebounds by halftime.
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
(Game photo courtesy Brandon Flores)
Players of the game: Janks and Smith
Unsung hero: Jovanovic
One game at a time, one win at a time. Great crowd, too. Looking forward to Long Beach State Saturday; tickets in hand.
Leahy’s on their show great , really nice recognition, and praise for Benjy Taylor!
Thanks Jim and Kanoa..had good things to say about Benjy and what he accomplished last year..
Wish him best moving forward at SE Missouri St.
How every stop in coaching, Benjy had good influence , energy help basketball programs turn positive..
Mahalo Leahy’s , very high character and first class of both of you!!
🙂
Dayton, Valerie and moderators wish warrior insider well
Remember this is good opinion on warrior basketball site.
Diversity
Otherwise kind of pull in reins
🙂
UH will finish BWC regular season 11-5 or 10-6..
BWC very close competition..games very close..at home or on road..
🙂
Great win tonight. Let’s hope for a packed house next week vs Long Beach! Support the team! UH Fanz must have been referring to himself. Takes up much of each blog.
Uhfanzonly1 aka broken record.
GO BOWS!
Josh Fox, one of UH’s former recruiting targets. Found this old Warrior Insider post about Fox from 2013: http://www.warriorinsider.com/2013/10/hawaii-in-the-recruiting-hunt-for-fox/
I wonder how the recruiting trip went. Anyway, in comment section of that post you can see Uhfanzonly1 converse at length with his other username playhoopsa.
Typical warrior basketball. Stay close at halftime and then slowly turn up the heat second half. Davis did not have an answer for Jankovic. And they were surprised by Quincy’s play. That’s the strength of this team. Anyone can step up when others not having a good game. And it’s a delight to watch the bigs. They are now playing fundamental basketball and playing within themselves. This team is growing with each game because everyone contributing and stepping up their game. That’s championship basketball baby!
The coaching staff has done a good job in elevating the performances of the players, giving them confidence which has made each player’s overall game a lot better.
Total TEAM work needed to overcome Foxed.
Performance with maxed effort!