Six Hawaii players scored in double figures in the new-look Rainbow Warrior basketball team’s 97-74 win over BYU Hawaii in Thursday’s exhibition game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
With five new starters on the floor, sophomore guard Sheriff Drammeh, UH’s top active returnee, led UH with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field.
Noah Allen, a transfer from UCLA, finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Forward Gibson Johnson added 12 points and eight rebounds.
Freshman guard Leland Green scored 12 of his 13 points in the first half and Matthew Owies, another freshman guard, contributed 12 points off the bench. Sophomore forward Jack Purchase posted 11 points and six rebounds in his first game action after redshirting last season as a transfer from Auburn.
The Rainbow Warriors shot a collective 54.9 percent from the field in their final tune up prior to the season opener against SIU-Edwardsville on Nov. 11 in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic.
BYUH guard Shad Watson hit six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 21 points. Tanner Nelson drained three from long range and scored 17 points. Guard Bailey Kikuchi went 4-for-6 from the field, all from 3-point range, and finished with 12 points.
BYUH ended up shooting 42.4 percent and went 16-for-41 from 3-point range. The Division II Seasiders open the program’s final season on Wednesday at BYU in Provo, Utah.
Johnson scored all eight of his first-half points during a 27-9 UH run in the game’s first nine minutes.
BYUH chopped its deficit to seven with a 10-2 run, closing to 32-25 on Watson’s jumper with 4:22 left. But UH broke away again with an 11-2 spurt and took a 44-30 lead into halftime.
UH shot 56 percent in the first half led by Green, who went into halftime with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Both Allen and Johnson were 4-for-6 from the field in the first half. BYUH took 23 of its 36 shots from beyond the 3-point arc and hit six in the first half.
UH’s lead swelled to 75-50 when Drammeh completed a three-point play with 8:31 left and the ’Bows cruised to the intrastate exhibition victory.