by LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball enjoyed a Thanksgiving to remember with an 88-80 win over Illinois-Chicago in the Las Vegas Classic at the Orleans Arena. The Rainbow Warriors improved to 3-1 on the young season.
UH got a combined 58 points from its frontcourt of Mate Colina (23), Jerome Desrosiers (16) and Kamaka Hepa (19) and led from wire-to-wire in picking up the holiday victory. With the win UH advanced to the title game of the Classic, where they will meet South Alabama, a 68-67 winner in the day’s previous game. The teams will tangle tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. PT/1:00 p.m. HT.
It was also a milestone day for Eran Ganot who picked up win No. 100 in his UH career. Ganot, in his seventh season as the Rainbow Warriors’ head man, is the fourth coach in program history to hit the century mark, joining Red Rocha, Larry Little and Riley Wallace.
UH got off to a fast start scoring nine of the game’s first 10 points and building a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the game. It was a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way, though the Flames would keep it interesting throughout by draining 14 three-pointers on the day.
The ‘Bows led by as many as 17 points late in the first half before taking a 43-34 lead into the locker room. UH continued to pound the ball inside in the second half and maintained a double-digit lead with 10 minutes left. Behind the hot shooting of Damaria Franklin (22 points) and Kevin Johnson (20), UIC got within six with five minutes remaining.
But UH ultimately wore down the Flames, heading to the free throw line 33 times and converting 23 of those attempts. The ‘Bows, who shot 52 percent for the game, got 46 points in the paint and out-rebounded the Flames, 34-23. UH also took care of the ball, committing just seven turnovers.
UH won handily despite entering the game without the services of its two top scorers. Bernardo da Silva sat out, while Noel Coleman was limited to just five minutes of action. Both Colina and Hepa finished with career highs in scoring, while fellow starters Desroisers, Junior Madut (10) and JoVon McClanahan (10) also finished in double-figure scoring.
