A quick start and relentless defense helped the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team beat Cal Poly 57-48 on Saturday night at the SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii improved to 11-3 overall and 2-2 against the Big West, while Cal Poly went 7-7 overall and 1-1 in conference games.
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After kicking off conference play with a win over UC Davis on Thursday, the Rainbow Warriors started 8-0 on Saturday and took advantage by triggering a Cal Poly timeout with 16:26 left in the first half. It stretched to 16-0 before the Mustangs scored the first bucket with Nick Fleming’s midrange jumper with 10:49 left in the first half.
Despite a good start, the ‘Bows calmly finished the first half and cut the lead to 27-22 at halftime. Cal Poly cut his UH lead to 4 he had less than 2 minutes left.
With JoVon McClanahan, Noel Coleman and Kamaka Hepa each scoring a game-high 12 points, the Rainbow Warriors won 11-1 off the field as a team. Hepa made the team’s only successful 3-pointer.
Trevon Taylor and Alimamy Koroma each scored a team-high 10 points, turned the ball 13 times at Cal Poly and went 20-49 from the field, including 3-10-1.
After closing out Homestead 6-0, UH will head to California for their conference season road trip, starting at UC San Diego on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 5pm HST.