HONOLULU — Hawaii mind-gamed its way into Friday’s Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic semifinals.
With some deft defense on the perimeter, the Rainbow Warriors convinced Pepperdine, one of the most dangerous 3-point shooting teams in the country, not to take 3-pointers.
Instead, the Waves repeatedly took the bait to drive to the hoop, where their uncomfortable shots danced around the rim and fell off often enough for UH to walk away with a 76-70 victory in front of 3,713 at SimpliFi Arena.
“Doing the scouting we emphasized taking away their 3. I think they only made four today, so I think we did a great job on that,” observed UH guard Noel Coleman, who scored 17 of his team-high 22 points in the first half. “That’s what kind of changed the game for them.”
Point guard JoVon McClanahan supplied a career-high 17 points, including a big 3-pointer with two minutes left and some clutch free throws down the stretch. Forward Kamaka Hepa had 19 points and wing Samuta Avea posted his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead a strong effort on the glass.
UH (7-3) won its first game in its nationally televised holiday tournament since 2019 and advanced to face Washington State (5-6) of the Pac-12 in Friday’s semifinal. Tipoff is officially 7 p.m. but will likely take place closer to 7:30.
The ‘Bows are 0-4 in Diamond Head semifinal games, with their most recent opportunity coming in 2019.
This might be their best opportunity to date to get to the final. WSU advanced past the first round with a 66-64 win over George Washington thanks to a game-winning 3 by sharpshooter Jabe Mullins with 3.1 seconds left.
“We talk about (winning the Diamond Head) every five minutes. … We’re really excited to make it happen,” Coleman said.
UH coach Eran Ganot considers WSU coach Kyle Smith a mentor. Smith, a member of the same Randy Bennett coaching tree, was a two-time finalist for the head UH job before he got that Wazzu job in 2019.
The ‘Bows have a couple of direct sources on the Cougars in WSU transfer Ryan Rapp, an injured reserve guard, and graduate manager Alex Yano, another member of last year’s Cougar squad that got to the NIT semifinals and won 22 games.
“Both programs have followed each other,” Ganot said. “Kyle’s a big impact for me and a lot of people’s lives. Everybody’s going to know each other pretty well in this game. It’ll come down to execution.”
UH did a pretty good job of that for most of Thursday’s game.
It built up a 19-point cushion that got chopped to four with 4:36 left and again with 16 seconds remaining, but it regained its composure just in time.
Pepperdine (6-6) went without a 3-pointer in the first half and finished 4-for-15 from long range. It was a far cry from the West Coast Conference team’s elite averages of 40.6% 3-point shooting and 10 triples made per game.
“They’re one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country. They like to get them up. We talked about getting them off the line, whatever we can do to close them out and play off that,” McClanahan said. “We did that, and … they didn’t know where to get their points from.”
The top three Waves scorers on the season, Maxwell Lewis, Houston Mallette and Mike Mitchell Jr., came in shooting 45% or better from long range. They were a combined 2-for-10.
Waves coach Lorenzo Romar credited UH for committing to staying home on their marked men.
“A lot of teams like to get in the gaps and keep you from penetrating,” he said. “They do a decent job of being in the gaps, but they really spread out to the shooters and not give them looks.
“It did allow us to get to the rim, and we had our chances,” Romar added. “But that’s the difference between the winning team and the losing team. You gotta convert.”
Avea had the primary assignment on Lewis, Pepperdine’s emerging sophomore star. The forward exceeded his 18.5 scoring average with a game-high 23 points, but shot 9-for-21 to do it.
“It’s difficult to keep those guys down,” Ganot said. “The deal is, can you keep their percentages low. And in that regard, I think (Avea) did a great job.”
Lewis drew Avea’s fourth foul on a post-up with 9:34 to play, relegating the UH co-captain to the bench.
Coleman picked up his fourth with 6:59 left. He took a seat next to Avea and Pepperdine seized the advantage with two of UH’s playmakers out, trimming the lead to six.
Ganot rolled the dice and reinserted both with five minutes left to staunch the bleeding. It paid off. McClanahan tossed in a 3 on a kickout from Coleman to go up 10 with two minutes to go.
“Five minutes is a lot of time and it would’ve been tough to play without them late, but the way the game was going, no messing around,” Ganot said. “That was a big part of us getting back to (up) 11.”
Some “boneheaded” plays, as McClanahan described it, allowed Pepperdine to hang around in the final minute. McClanahan’s ill-advised pass upcourt got picked off and Jevon Porter hit a 3 to narrow it to four with 16 seconds left.
But McClanahan felt at ease at the foul line to close it out. He was 9-for-12 there, including makes on his last seven.
In the early-session games Thursday, SMU upset Iona and former UH coach Rick Pitino, 85-81, and Utah State routed Seattle 84-56. SMU and USU play the first semifinal at 2 p.m. Friday.
Correction: Friday's first semifinal between SMU and Utah State began at 2 p.m. An incorrect time was previously listed. The George Washington and Pepperdine consolation bracket game is at 5 p.m. instead.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.