Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawaii men's basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak with a spirited 74-66 come-from-behind win over Centenary Sunday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. UH improved to 4-8 overall, while concluding its six-game homestand on a positive note with a win over the Gents (7-7).

It was the third straight game in which the Rainbow Warriors rallied from a double-digit deficit, but unlike the prior two games UH would come away with a win. Hawai`i overcame a miserable start and a 13-point first-half deficit with a stellar performance on both ends of the court in the second half.

Bobby Nash scored a team-high 21 points, while Jared Dillinger, the sparkplug in UH's comeback, finished with a career-high 17 points. Matt Gibson tied a career high with eight assists, while also chipping in 12 points and four rebounds.

It was just enough to withstand Centenary's potent backcourt duo of Nick Stallings (24 points) and Tyrone Hamilton (19 points), who scored more than half the Gent's points on the evening.

Centenary jumped all over UH scoring 14 of the first 16 points in the game and seizing a double-digit lead less than five minutes in. Stallings put home an emphatic dunk on the game's opening possession and finished with half (17) of the team's 34 first-half points as the Gent's shot 57 percent from the field.

UH, however, would not back down and stormed back led by Dillinger. The 6-5 senior scored 10 of UH's points during a 12-2 run that knotted the score 30-30 late in the first half. Centenary led 34-30 at the break, but it was all UH after that.

The 'Bows held Centenary to just 37 percent shooting in the second half, including just seven points for Stallings after the break. Meanwhile, UH got into a flow on offense, shooting 60 percent from the floor and scoring 44 second-half points.

UH took its first lead of the game, 39-38, on Riley Luettgerodt's three-point play at the 14:44 mark of the second half. The Bows built their lead to as many as 11 points on two occasions, including a 65-54 lead on a Gibson breakaway layup.

Centenary made it interesting by draining four consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to three, 69-66, with less than a minute left. But that's as close as it would get as UH iced the game at the free throw line.

Hawai`i next begins its Western Athletic Conference schedule, traveling to Logan, Utah for a meeting with WAC favorite Utah State on Thursday, Jan. 3. Tipoff is 7:00 MST.

 

 

 

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