LIHU‘E — Make it five straight for the ‘Bows, as the University of Hawai‘i men’s hoops squad pulled out a 77-71 road win, Thursday against San Jose State in California. Hawai‘i (18-10, 8-7 Western Athletic Conference) has not lost since
LIHU‘E — Make it five straight for the ‘Bows, as the University of Hawai‘i men’s hoops squad pulled out a 77-71 road win, Thursday against San Jose State in California.
Hawai‘i (18-10, 8-7 Western Athletic Conference) has not lost since a Feb. 5 defeat at Idaho, 75-61, and has now won nine of its past 11 games.
With only seven players seeing action Thursday, the ‘Bows rode the hot hand of Zane Johnson once again, as the junior finished with 26 points, including six 3-pointers, in 37 minutes of action.
Forward Bill Amis came up one board shy of another double-double, going for 19 points and nine rebounds. Center Vander Joaquim had 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.
Bo Barnes camped out behind the three-point line, taking all eight of his field goal attempts from beyond the arc. He knocked down three of them and finished with 12 points and four boards.
Jeremiah Ostrowski struggled to score, but played floor general instead with a game-high 10 assists, to go with five rebounds and two points.
Joston Thomas scored six points and grabbed three rebounds off the bench, while Bobby Miles was held scoreless, but handed out three assists.
San Jose State (15-13, 5-10 WAC) had four players in double figures, led by Adrian Oliver’s 18 points. Justin Graham and Keith Shamburger scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Will Carter had 13.
The win moves UH into a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference, with the season finale Saturday at Fresno State. It also assures head coach Gib Arnold at least a .500 conference record in his rookie campaign.
San Jose State used a 16-2 run in the first half to take its largest lead of the game, capped by a Calvin Douglas 3-pointer to go up 25-15 with just over nine minutes to play before halftime.
But UH responded with a 13-2 run of its own to go up 28-27, before SJSU went back up by five on a few occasions. Amis closed the half with back-to-back hoops and UH was down a point at the break, 37-36.
The ‘Bows scored the first seven points of the second half for a 43-37 edge, but the two teams continued to trade the lead.
The Spartans appeared to be taking command when Oliver scored six straight for his squad and gave them a 66-60 lead with 5:48 remaining.
Hawai‘i came storming back and ran off an 11-2 stretch and Barnes made a pair of free throws for a 71-68 lead with 1:45 to play.
After a Spartan free throw, the dagger came, fittingly, from Johnson. Up 71-69, the sharpshooter nailed his sixth triple of the game with just 40 seconds to play, putting UH up by five.
Saturday’s game in Fresno, Calif. is scheduled to tip of at 8 p.m. PT (6 p.m. HT).
The WAC Tournament will then take place from Wednesday through Saturday in Las Vegas.
