HONOLULU — It was a tale of two halves Sunday night for UH-Manoa’s men’s basketball, which begged the obvious question for coach Eran Ganot:
HONOLULU — It was a tale of two halves Sunday night for UH-Manoa’s men’s basketball, which begged the obvious question for coach Eran Ganot:
What did you tell them in the locker room at the half?
Coach Ganot: “Let’s play Hawaii basketball.”
And for the first time this season, that was winning basketball.
Sheriff Drammeh had 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists Sunday night and the Rainbow Warriors erased a 14-point deficit to beat Texas State 74-68 on the second night of the Rainbow Classic.
“It’s a unique moment, because this is the first win for this group,” Ganot said.
Noah Allen’s drive-and-feed to set up Gibson Johnson for an inside basket put Hawaii (1-1) in control with a five-point lead and 1:04 left. Jack Purchase added a pair of free throws that capped a 13-1 run at 71-64.
Ganot said he saw too much “one-on-one hero ball in the first half.”
Hawaii committed 10 of its 14 turnovers before the break and trailed 38-24 in the final minute of the first half. The Rainbow Warriors tied it at 55 and took their first lead at 64-63 on the first of a pair of free throws by Drammeh.
“We passed the ball,” Ganot said. “We made the adjustment.”
Purchase had 15 points, and Johnson and Allen scored 13 each for Hawaii.
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury had 18 points, Nijal Pearson scored 14 and Bobby Conley 10 for Texas State (1-1).
Hawaii plays Florida Atlantic (0-2) at 11:15 p.m. Monday night on ESPN2.
CSU-Bakersfield women 58, Hawaii 51: The Roadrunners (1-0) went on a 25-15 run in the fourth quarter, dropping the visisting Wahine to 0-2.