Warrior Insider

In a tale of two halves, the University of Hawai’i basketball team saw a potential road upset turn into an 89-64 blowout loss at No. 13 Oregon on Saturday.

The Rainbow Warriors stayed with the Ducks for the entire first half, but Oregon out-scored Hawai’i 55-30 in the second half.

An announced crowd of 6,599 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore., watched the Ducks improve to 7-2, including 5-0 at home. Hawai’i dropped to 6-3, including 0-2 on the road.

Senior guard Eddie Stansberry made a career-high seven 3-pointers and finished with 24 points to lead Hawai’i. Freshman guard Justin Webster scored a season-high 12 points off the bench, and sophomore center Dawson Carper added 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and grabbed five rebounds for the Warriors.

Junior point guard Drew Buggs passed for a season-high eight assists, but was held scoreless on 0 for 8 shooting. It was only the second time in his UH career (70 games) that Buggs did not score in a game.

Hawai’i made a season-high 12 3-pointers, but also had its worst defensive performance of the season. Oregon shot 62.7 percent (32 for 51) from the field overall, 52.6 percent (10 for 19) from 3-point range, and 88.2 percent (15 for 17) on free throws. The Ducks were particularly efficient in the second half, going 18 for 27 from the field, 7 for 11 on 3-pointers, and 12 for 12 at the free throw line.

It was a shocking turn of momentum for the Warriors, who actually had an eight-point lead after the game’s first six minutes.

Samuta Avea hit a 3-pointer on Hawai’i’s opening possession, and it sparked a 7-2 run by the Warriors to start the game. The Warriors increased the lead to 13-5, but the Ducks responded with a 12-4 surge to tie it at 17.

It stayed close the rest of the first half, with the teams exchanging the lead five different times. The first half ended in a 34-all tie. Stansberry made four 3-pointers and scored 14 points in the first half.

The second half belonged to the Ducks from start to finish. Oregon went on a 20-1 surge in the first seven minutes after intermission to take a 54-35 lead. The Warriors never got closer than 13 points in the game’s final 13 minutes.

A 12-0 run by Oregon late in the second half put the Ducks ahead 82-56 with 3:11 remaining, and ended any chance of a Hawai’i comeback.

Hawai’i finished the game shooting 38.6 percent from the field (22 for 57), including 33.3 percent (10 for 30) in the second half. The Ducks also out-rebounded the Warriors, 31-19. It was the first time since the 2010-11 season that the Warriors did not grab at least 20 rebounds in a game.

The 25-point loss was also Hawai’i’s largest deficit since a 71-45 home loss to Illinois State in 2016.

Payton Pritchard led the Ducks with 20 points and 11 assists, and C.J. Walker added 18. Pritchard shot 8 for 11 from the field and Walker was 8 for 10.

The Warriors will return home for their next five games: December 15 against Samford, December 22, 23 and 25 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, and December 29 against Maine.

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