Warrior Insider

The University of Hawai’i continued to show early-season improvement in an 83-75 victory over Portland State on Friday night.

Senior guard Eddie Stansberry scored a career-high 28 points, senior forward Zigmars Raimo had a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds, and the Rainbow Warriors neutralized the Vikings’ pressure defense in the win. A crowd of around 3,800 (5,014 tickets issued) watched Hawai’i improve to 3-1, while Portland State dropped to 1-2.

“I’m super proud of our group, our staff,” acting head coach Chris Gerlufsen said. “That was a great win before we head out on the road.”

The Warriors are scheduled to depart Honolulu on Saturday morning, and will play at Illinois on Monday.

In addition to some warm clothing, the Warriors will bring a sense of confidence on the road. Stansberry, in particular, was in prime form on Friday. He made his first six 3-point attempts, and finished 8 for 15 overall, 6 for 7 from 3-point range, and 6 of 6 on free throws.

“The shots I was getting was pretty much from the inside-out,” Stansberry said. “I don’t think it was I had to create for myself. Drew (Buggs) was doing a great job all night, and some of the others. Just having that same mentality to catch and shoot. They went in tonight and that’s great, but most importantly, we got the W.”

Buggs, Hawai’i’s junior point guard, finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and passed for five assists. He was also the primary ball-handler against Portland State’s full-court defense.

“We knew that we’re a good shooting team,” Buggs said. “In the Rainbow Classic we didn’t shoot as well as we would like, but we knew it was only a matter of time before we started making our shots. If we were solid today and just make the right play, they gamble a lot and we have a lot of open shots. We did, and we were able to make them today.”

The Warriors shot 50.9 percent from the field (30 for 59) overall and 55 percent (11 for 20) from 3-point range.

Stansberry scored 14 points in each half, and is now averaging 25.0 points per game over the past three games.

“He’s an overly confident kid,” Gerlufsen said. “If he misses or makes 10 in a row, he thinks the 11^th one is going in. As a coach, that’s fun to see … I think three games ago, he saw a couple go in and started believing in himself. Believe me, as a coaching staff and a team, when he shoots the ball, we all believe the ball is going in the basket. He has an unbelievable way of scoring the ball.”

Despite the good shooting, the Warriors could never quite pull away from the Vikings. Hawai’I led by as many as nine points in the first half, but Portland State rallied to tie the score at 38. A driving jump shot with two seconds remaining in the half gave the Warriors a 40-38 lead at intermission.

The Vikings tied the score again at 40 early in the second half, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Stansberry and Buggs put the Warriors ahead for good. Hawai’i’s biggest lead was 75-65 with 7:24 remaining, then the Warriors held off the Vikings the rest of the way.

“We knew it was going to be a 40-minute dog fight,” Gerlufsen said. “They just never stop with their pressure. It’s relentless for 40 minutes. We went on some good scoring runs and I thought we probably relaxed when we did. Testament to (Portland State), they just kept coming, kept coming … always made it a game after we made a nice run.”

The Warriors also committed 18 turnovers, but only six in the second half. They also had 19 assists, with Raimo surprisingly leading the way with his seven.

“I think this is as good as Zigmars has played all year,” Gerlufsen said. “When he plays the game with some pace and he slows down and processes, he has the ability to have a state line like he did tonight. Seven assists from an inside guy is pretty impressive.”

Raimo’s driving two-hand dunk midway through the second half gave the Warriors a 61-54 lead. Portland State never got closer than four points after that.

Samuta Avea added 12 points for the Warriors, and Justin Hemsley scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Freshman guard Justin Webster made his collegiate debut for Hawai’i and scored four points, including a 3-pointer in the first half. He sat out the first three games of the season with an ankle injury.

The Warriors were once again without head coach Eran Ganot, who has now missed all four games this season due to a medical leave of absence.

Matt Hauser led Portland State with 18 points. Vikings’ guard Holland Woods entered the game averaging 19.5 points per game, but he was limited to 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting. The Vikings shot 39.1 percent from the field, including 29.4 percent (5 for 17) from 3-point range.

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