Box Score
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Hawai'i men's basketball team successfully opened its 11-day road trip with an 84-73 victory over San Jose State, Saturday afternoon, at The Event Center. The Rainbow Warriors ran its offense to near-perfection while improving to 13-5 overall and evened their Western Athletic Conference record to 5-5.
UH shot 57.7 percent from the field, including a 65.2 clip in the second half, while matching its season-high in points. The 'Bows also connected on a season-best 13 3-pointers and shot 54.2 percent from that distance.
Guard Matt Gibson set a new career-high with 23 points, 19 of which occurred after halftime. The sophomore drained five 3-pointers and shot 8-of-13 from the field. Forward Julian Sensley added 22 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Guard Jake Sottos continued his hot-shooting with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from behind the arc.
The Spartans (6-13, 3-7) shot 50 percent from the field and nearly erased an 18-point second half deficit. SJSU used a 19-4 run to close to within three but could get no closer than that. Forward Marquin Chandler led all scorers with 32 points.
UH opened the game with a 16-9 lead after a pair of treys by Sensley and Sottos, which spurred a 10-0 run. The 'Bows extended the lead to 27-17 after consecutive buckets by Jeff Blackett. The Spartans pulled within 29-26 but the 'Bows responded with a 9-0 run to close out the half and took a 38-29 lead into the locker room.
Sottos led all UH scorers with 12 points, all of which came outside the 3-point arc in the period while Chandler paced the Spartans with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Gibson started the second half with three early treys to build UH's lead to 49-32. Moments later, the 'Bows pushed the lead to 18 before the Spartans came storming back, scoring 14 unanswered points to close to within 54-51 with 11:30 left.
UH pushed the lead to 61-53 after a Sensley dunk. Then with the 'Bows holding on to a 65-61 advantage at the 5:00 mark, Gibson got hot draining consecutive 3-pointers to extend the lead back to double digits.
The 'Bows continue their three-game, 11-day road trip at Louisiana Tech, Thursday, Feb. 10 and SMU, Saturday, Feb. 12.
-uh-
