University of Hawaii basketball team battles past Chaminade

On a night when the legacy of the late Merv Lopes — Chaminade’s “giant-slaying” leader — was acknowledged, the Silverswords were poised to upset intraisland rival Hawaii at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Silverswords used a variety of pressure defenses to transform a nine-point, first-half deficit into a 68-61 lead with 8:29 to go in Sunday’s exhibition.

“They’re going crazy, and I’m taking it all in,” UH head coach Eran Ganot recalled. “We do situations every day in practice. … Let’s see what our team is made of. This is great. And I hope this is a point we can look back on. You can do that with veteran teams.”

Quandre “Dre” Bullock, a transfer from South Dakota, used his 46-inch vertical jump to soar for a dunk. Utah transfer Hunter Erickson sneaked free to secure a long pass from Tanner Cuff for the first of two breakaway layups. And Gytis Nemeiksa, who returned to practice last week after recovering from an injury, recycled his missed layup into a putback with 3:42 left for a 75-74 lead the ’Bows would not relinquish.

The ’Bows’ ensemble performance, utilizing the nine newcomers, provided a 93-87 victory before a crowd of 2,025.

The ’Bows won both preseason exhibitions. They open the regular season on Nov. 4 with a road game against Oregon.

By then, Ganot expects the ’Bows to have a full roster of available players. During this six-week fall period, the ’Bows had all 13 players healthy only once. Point guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor was held out on Sunday despite no longer needing a wrist brace.

“Kind of a polar opposite of what we played last game,” Erickson said of last week’s rout of Pomona-Pitzer. “It kind of catches you off guard. They played the same way the entire game. It took us a minute to adjust. It’s a great prep for the rest of the year and getting strong with the ball.”

With an undersized lineup, Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird has implemented a no-pause style of presses, traps and offensive movements that he helped create at West Liberty early in his career. The layered presses traded potential fouls for turnovers. The ’Bows turned the ball over 22 times, leading to 30 Chaminade points. The ’Bows scored only 10 points on the Silverswords’ eight turnovers.

“That’s our style of play,” Bovaird said. “There’s no surprises. We started to really implement it last year. We started getting good at it. … We’re going to try to do that to everybody, no matter if it’s the Maui Invitational or our (Division II) level. I thought we had a lot of success. I thought it was their offensive rebounds that hurt us the most.”

Even when they had difficulty navigating the pressure defenses or hitting shots (5-for-19 on 3s), the ’Bows repeatedly attacked the boards. The ’Bows constructed a 59-32 advantage, including 22-8 off the offensive glass. Guards Bullock, Cuff, Erickson and Isaiah Kerr combined for 23 rebounds. Erickson credited the bigs for boxing out, opening the way for the guards to swoop for rebounds. Cuff and Bullock jump-started fast break with outlet passes.

“We played together a bit and we’re both from Utah,” Erickson said of his breakaway layups on passes from Cuff. “I know if I leak out a little bit, he’s going to chuck that thing out there.”

Erickson, who did not attempt a first-half shot, finished with 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting. His 3-point shot gave the ’Bows an 81-75 lead with 2:52 to play.

“Don’t you dare pass up an open one,” Ganot recalled thinking when Erickson got the ball on the left wing. “We work for these shots. We’re going to play with a lot of confidence. If we hesitate, we’re not good at anything. I’d rather us miss a good look than pass them up. That’ll bleed into everything. Confidence is at the forefront, and the rest follows from there.”

Bullock led the way with 23 points — six coming off powerful dunks. After a steal, Bullock went coast-to-coast for a windmill jam. In the second half, he soared for a baseline dunk. Bullock, who also suctioned eight rebounds, had three steals, two blocks and often picked up whoever ran Chaminade’s offense.

“I was trying to do everything to win the game,” Bullock said.