Warriors pull away from Cal Poly, 86-73
Roderick Bobbitt scored a game-high 21 points and Aaron Valdes added 20 points tonight to help Hawai’i pull away from visiting Cal Poly, 86-73, in the Big West Conference men’s basketball opener for both teams.
A vocal crowd of about 5,885 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Stefan Jankovic add 19 points and grab 13 rebounds and Isaac Fleming contribute 12 points, five assists and three rebounds off the bench as the Rainbow Warriors improved to 12-2 overall. The Mustangs fell to 6-8.
After a physical first half that ended up tied at 39-39, David Nwaba sank a short jumper to put Cal Poly up, 39-37, but that would be the Mustangs’ final lead of the evening, as Bobbitt’s 3-pointer broke a 42-42 tie with 17:25 remaining to give UH the lead for good.
Stefan Jovanovic’s layup with 11:57 left capped a 10-2 run that put the Rainbow Warriors ahead, 61-51. The Mustangs closed it to 66-64 with 7:03 remaining, but Hawai’i responded with a 9-2 run capped by Valdes’ 3-pointer from the left corner off Fleming’s assist with 4:18 left and held on for the victory.
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
(Game photo courtesy Brandon Flores)
Tough physical game..conference games..gotta love it!!
Cal poly take care of ball, beat on the boards..
Bigwest as We all know…one bid ncaa league..have to win BWC tournament in Anaheim
Very impressed with Mustangs and their coach..
Can UH win on road?
Real test
Prediction UH finish 10-6 in league play
And BWC have to win tournament!!
🙂
LBSU looks good again..Irvine good, UCSB..tough..
Riverside surprising
Fullerton will 3 bomb UH..
All 9 teams can go to ncaa ..whomever hot BWC tournament
Very happy Cal Poly almost beat UH at SSC..competition finally from last place team in BWC!!
🙂
4600 in the house huge disappointment. .if this is second coming of Fab Five..no less than 8000 in house
Fanbase not there
Just that 4000 core die hards
Cal Poly and Callero are a tough-minded bunch. They’re also 0-1 in the BW. Home, or away, I’d rather be 1-0.
Warriors rose to the occasion as far as physicality on the boards, led by Thomas and Jankovic.
Whew Cal Poly had our number last few years. It’s great to be over the hump finally beating them at home. Hope that sets the pace for BW play. Great team win. Everyone doing their thing and helping each other to get the victory. Gotta feel good about our chances. Question: How does Ganot keep the players fresh for each game when they are all grinders? It’s going to take its toll down the stretch.
Uhfanzonly1, you forgot to sign in as ‘eagle’ on your first post. Cal Poly didn’t finish in last place last year. So now real test is if UH can win on the road? I thought real test was the Rainbow Classic, then the UNI game, then the Oklahoma game, then the Auburn game, then the Mississippi Valley State game (to see if the guys could handle the ‘DHC’ hangover, then the Howard game (going up against nation’s leading scorer, then the Cal Poly game. You compliment Cal Poly and their coach but not our team and Ganot. Sad excuse for a fan.
Awesome win against a tough Cal Poly team! Awesome Rod’s dad called Gary Dickman on ESPN 1420’s ‘Fan Phone’. A little strange our guys didn’t attempt 3s when it seemed like they had good looks.
Can’t wait for the Santa Barbara game!
League will be super competitive, remember Cal Ploy is lat place team in league!
Love it!
I was afraid UH would think they would cakewalk through league play
If UH played this game at Poly..UH lose by 13
They probably will lose return match on road
Coach Callero great coach
Believe his team get healthy..can go ncaa tournament
Janks and Valdes , Bobbitt playing like this is final season
Grat effort!!
🙂
Great game both teams not grat!
🙂
The stats would show that we won this game on Free Throws. At an 81% rate.
We shot 34 of 42 for 81% and Cal Poly shot 14 of 23 for 61%.
That’s 20 pts more at the line.
It’s not all telling for sure. But it was a tough game and the calls went both ways.
I think it was game strategy. And the team performed.
Good game all around. Go Bows !!
I haven’t seen or noticed anyone else signing in as eagle…
EGanot pointed ou\t (again) tonight that LAST YEAR UH was a Minus-One Rebound Team overall And Minus-Three in Conference….Tonight they Dominated One of The Best BWC Rebounding Teams…
MORE Important Where You Finish Than Start — BUT Much Better to Start Strong….
JUST For Comparison Purposes… One Game into BWC Season: UH 14 Points AND ONE WIN Better than Last Year…
Overall, THREE Losses Less than Last Year (Just Good Scheduling?)
EXPECTED Improvement In Getting TO The Line AND Hitting –MADE 20(!) More Even with SO MANY Blown Calls by Refs…Then @ Line HIT 80+%….
I Like The PLUS Physicality Displayed By BOTH Thomas And Jankovic…
KEEP Improving, ‘BOWS!
Avenged CAL-POLY…
Saturday…GET to 2-0 Against UCSB — One of The Other Two Teams to BEAT UH @ SSC Last Year…
[THEN Later, IRVINE…]