HONOLULU — The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors fell behind against an elite interior team in Georgia Tech and spent most of Friday night's Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic semifinal staring up at both the scoreboard and the swarming Yellow Jackets.
UH's first title defense in its nationally televised holiday tournament came to an end in a 73-68 semifinal loss at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Yellow Jackets (8-3) recovered after the tournament host rallied back from 21 points down in the second half and advanced to face Nevada (11-1) in Sunday’s 4 p.m. championship game, while UH (8-3) will meet TCU of the Big 12 in Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. third-place game. The Horned Frogs are led by former Rainbow Warrior assistant Jamie Dixon.
Dixon was ejected in the first half of TCU’s 88-75 loss to Nevada earlier Friday.
“Good teams will make you pay and they did. Very disappointed in the first half,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “Very proud of our guys’ effort. We’ll get back to work. We’re blessed to be able to continue to compete … against a great team on Sunday.”
UH turned intensified defense into a 19-0 run, and even took a lead to keep alive hopes of a second straight Diamond Head trophy to build on the program's 2022 breakthrough win. The advantage lasted for all of 16 seconds as the Atlantic Coast Conference team leaned into its size and length to end the game the way it began – punishing the Rainbow Warriors on the glass.
Georgia Tech (8-3) had a 46-28 rebounding advantage, including 15-7 on the offensive end, to nearly double up the ‘Bows in second-chance points. That effort was led by center Baye Ndongo, who grabbed half of his 12 boards on UH’s end and compiled 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting.
“We just wanted the game. I guess we wanted it more than them,” Ndongo said. “I know the work we’re putting in during practice and we stuck on it. You saw the work.”
UH gave itself a chance by turning the ball over a season-low four times. Hawaii point guard JoVon McClanahan, last year's Diamond Head Classic Most Outstanding Player who has a history of playing at a higher level in this event, scored a team-high 19 points and set a new season high in assists for the second straight night with eight.
But GaTech coach Damon Stoudamire, who made an NBA career out of succeeding against larger guards, could live with the 16 shots it took for the 5-foot-10 McClanahan to attain those points against the lengthy Jackets.
“He’s a really good player,” Stoudamire, who was nicknamed “Mighty Mouse,” said of McClanahan. “We put length on him, guarded him with (6-9) Tafara (Garape), a longer guy. We just wanted to make him work for all of his shots that he got.”
UH center Bernardo da Silva halved a six-point deficit in the final minute with an and-1 bucket and McClanahan stuck a layup, plus the foul, with 10.6 seconds left to get UH within 71-68. He missed the ensuing foul shot and his desperation 3 before the buzzer with UH down five.
Guard Miles Kelly (14 points) was the closer for GaTech as he put in a layup, stuck a jumper and hit two clinching free throws in the final minute.
UH’s top season scorer, Noel Coleman, was held scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting. His previous season low was eight points against Northern Arizona.
“Obviously teams are going to target him,” Ganot said. “I think he’s still impactful because he spreads the floor for us. But I’d say give them credit – we’ll see a lot of that moving forward. Teams, like we do, are going to target the point of attack.”
Da Silva had 17 points and five rebounds and forward Justin McKoy scored 11, the last of which was a layup to get UH within 62-61 with 3:08 left.
UH missed its last six attempts from long range.
The Yellow Jackets ambushed UH inside from the outset.
GaTech closed the first half with a 10-1 run as the ‘Bows appeared shellshocked heading into intermission. UH trailed 43-27 at the half despite committing just two turnovers in the period.
“Give them credit; they took the physicality to us from the start of the game,” Ganot said. “We let that affect us. We had lapses. We do not have many lapses.”
GaTech built its lead to 52-31 on Naithan George’s 3-pointer with 16:24 to play.
UH redoubled its efforts on defense to key a 19-0 run that spanned nearly seven minutes, and the Jackets missed 12 straight shots during a 10-minute field-goal drought. It included a three-point play, followed by a 3-pointer from backup forward Harry Rouhliadeff. The Sheriff evening-session crowd of 3,139 (4,919 tickets issued) was roused from hibernation.
The ‘Bows rallied to within 52-50 with 9:04 left and within a point on Juan Munoz’s layup with under seven minutes to go.
Da Silva put UH ahead with two free throws with 4:35 left, its first lead of the game.
GaTech came back with consecutive baskets by Ndongo, the first on a putback, to reclaim the advantage.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.