CANBERRA, Australia – The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team got in the win column for the first time on its foreign tour in impressive fashion with a 70-52 win over Australia Basketball's Centre of Excellence Wednesday night at the Belconnen Basketball & Sports Centre.
 
UH led nearly from wire-to-wire with a spirited effort on both ends of the court. UH got a balanced attack with all 10 players who saw action scoring at least four points. Former COE standout Mate Colina scored a game-high 14 points, while Drew Buggs had 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
 
The 'Bows picked up their intensity on the defensive end holding COE to just 27 percent shooting for the game. UH also showed its superiority inside, where they out-scored COE 46-22 in the paint.
 
COE scored the first basket of the game, but after that it was all UH. The 'Bows took a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and led by as many as 20 points, before taking a 37-19 lead into the locker room.
 
UH maintained the double digit lead for the majority of the second half, though COE did make a late push, cutting the deficit to just six points in the final six minutes. However, the Bows scored seven straight points, punctuated by a Sheriff Drammeh breakaway dunk, to put the game on ice.
 
The Rainbow Warriors will wrap up its four-city Australia tour with a game against the Sydney Kings on Friday, Aug. 17 at 1:30 p.m. (Thursday, Aug. 16, 5:30 p.m. HT).