HONOLULU — Two basketball teams accustomed to winning by wide margins were faced with their first last-minute test of the season at the Stan Sheriff Center on Sunday night.
Nevada passed the pop quiz. Hawaii did not.
Rainbow Warrior turnovers on two crucial, back-to-back possessions in the final 12 seconds contributed greatly to UH's home setback of the season, 72-66, in front of a season-high crowd of 3,362 (4,794 tickets issued).
UH (7-2), like Nevada (9-1), had become accustomed to leading by double digits well before the last four minutes of a game. In the 'Bows first loss of the season against Utah in Salt Lake City, UH was out of it by a wide margin.
“That’s where we got to work to get better, those crunch times, taking care of the ball,” guard Noel Coleman said. “Once we figure that out, that’s going to take us to where we want to be. But right now, we’re not there yet. … It’s good practice.”
UH and Reno had agreed to get in the stand-alone game ahead of the nationally televised Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic that begins Thursday. The Rainbow Warriors open with Portland (6-6) and the Wolf Pack has Temple (6-4) on opposite sides of the bracket.
Nevada returned most of its NCAA Tournament team from last March under Steve Alford and, with its size and depth, could end up being the best team UH sees at home all year. The Mountain West outfit's experience showed in the tightly played game as it outscored UH 11-6 in the final four minutes, though the Pack hadn’t been in a contest like that through its first eight games.
“To get that before an MTE (Multi-Team Event), when you’re going to play some very difficult opponents before you get to league play, it’s great, and I thought our guys really handled that last four minutes well,” Alford said.
But UH had its chances.
With former coach Riley Wallace in the house and time ticking down in the battle of former Western Athletic Conference foes, UH center Mor Seck got a critical blocked shot on Tre Coleman, leading to a shot clock violation. But the ‘Bows, who trailed by two, could not take advantage of it at the other end as forward Justin McKoy, dribbling out of the Pack’s deep left corner to the top of the key, had the ball poked away by guard Daniel Foster.
“We were organized and knew exactly what we wanted to do the possession before,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “(We) wanted to get a (Nevada) shot or close-out situation, one or the other, and we got that — and we turned it over. It’s a tough go on that. Give them credit.”
After UH took a foul and Nevada stretched it to a four-point lead on Hunter McIntosh’s free throws, UH’s last gasp was instead a whimper as point guard JoVon McClanahan was assessed an unforced double-dribble violation shortly after UH inbounded coming out of its final timeout.
Ganot said, “The last one, you sure don’t expect that to happen, but it happened. I thought we navigated that stretch (prior to that) well.”
Both teams shot poorly from the perimeter for most of the night. UH, which came into the game with 3-point shooting as one of its best assets at better than 38%, connected on three long balls in the first nine minutes. They had none the rest of the way, finishing a season-worst 3-for-17 (17.6%). One of those was a banked shot from the deep corner by Matthue Cotton and the ‘Bows attempted only four in the second half.
UH managed to outdo Nevada’s dynamic lineup in free-throw attempts, a first for the Pack this season, but the ‘Bows were left to rue some critical misses late as they went 13-for-22 at the line in the second half.
Nevada had its fair share of friendly bounces down the stretch, too. There was a banked free throw by big man K.J. Hymes, and the go-ahead long 2-pointer by Jarod Lucas died on the back rim before dropping through with 3:04 left.
UH’s Coleman overcame a slow start to finish with 17 points, and he helped limit Nevada’s top scorer, Kenan Blackshear, to a 12-point night on 5-for-18 shooting.
UH led by a point at halftime but fell behind by eight early in the second half. It rallied to tie it up on a series of drives and drawn fouls, led by Coleman.
“I thought we had a good game plan,” Ganot said. “I think we defended them really well, I think we did a good job on the glass. And that will help us moving forward if we use this experience right.”
All five members of the Pack starting five registered double-figure scoring. Lucas scored 16 and forward Nick Davidson helped pick up the Pack with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
UH’s centers, Bernardo da Silva and Seck, struggled to defend the Pack’s agile front line without fouling, forcing Ganot to play Harry Rouhliadeff at center for a stretch of the second half. Da Silva fouled out with 1:50 left but had a strong offensive game with 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting and 10 rebounds.
Alford noted that two keys were his team’s limitation of UH’s point guards, McClanahan and Juan Munoz, to a single field goal between them and the foul trouble on UH’s centers.
“I thought that was big because it made them adjust their normal sub pattern and play maybe some guys more minutes than they wanted up front,” Alford said. “I think that really helped us.”
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.