HONOLULU — Oakland, a bracket-buster for many in last season's NCAA Tournament when the Horizon League team upset Kentucky, nearly found itself in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game with a combination of interior toughness and exterior marksmanship.
But on Christmas, it was Hawaii that willed itself to a winning record in its nationally televised holiday tournament.
"A lot of respect to them, but we were better today," forward Gytis Nemeiksa said.
The Lithuanian bounced back from his worst outing of the season to tally career highs of 25 points and 11 rebounds and blocked Oakland’s last-gasp 3-point attempt as the Rainbow Warriors won 73-70 in overtime for third place in the eight-team field.
Harry Rouhliadeff had the go-ahead basket for UH on a controversial tip-in of Marcus Greene’s miss with 46 seconds left in the extra period; Oakland coach Greg Kampe was demonstrative about a goaltendting call on the play, but none came. Greene added a free throw when the Golden Grizzlies (4-9) missed a shot and had to take a foul.
An inspection of video afterward showed the ball was extremely close to being in the cylinder at the time Rouhliadeff touched it.
Kampe, the longest-tenured coach at any Division I school in his 41st season, said afterward that the officials should've called it goaltending on the floor, then reviewed the play whereby they could rescind goaltending if necessary. By rule, officials are not allowed to check for goaltending during an ensuing dead-ball situation if it was not called on the floor.
"You can’t let a game be won or lost on something like that," Kampe said. "That’s my problem."
He did, however, credit UH for a well-played game.
Oakland still had a chance to extend the game. Guard Malcom Christie, who set a tournament record and UH opponent record with his 22 3-point attempts (with seven makes), misfired on a long-range shot. Isaiah Jones, who had a game-winning putback against Loyola Chicago in the first round of the DHC on Sunday, grabbed the rebound and tried to put up a 3 from the deep corner in front of the Golden Grizzlies’ bench.
But Nemeiksa was there to snuff it out and the Lithuanian, who pumped in 17 points in the first half, gave a yell at the horn.
"When I saw (Christie) shooting a 3, I was like ‘damn, that’s not good,’ but when I saw he didn’t make it I was not trying to foul," Nemeiksa said. "They got the offensive rebound and we kept playing. We stayed tough and I got the block. But it was really good team defense on that possession."
He had a hot-cold-hot tournament; he scored 24 against Charlotte on Sunday, then was 0-for-5 for one point against Nebraska. It was the second time in 11 games that the Xavier transfer failed to finish in double figures, even as he came off the bench for the first seven games of the year.
On Wednesday, Nemeiksa was 6-for-14 from the field and 11-for-14 at the foul line, with a couple of 3s and a blocked shot.
"As the guys get comfortable, their instincts will shine," UH coach Eran Ganot said.
It was likely host UH’s last game on Christmas in the nationally televised eight-team tournament. Event operator ESPN Events announced on Monday it is moving the DHC to Thanksgiving week starting in 2025.
An evening session crowd of 2,074 (5,086 tickets issued) checked through the turnstiles spanning the third-place game and the championship contested between Nebraska and Oregon State following UH-Oakland, won 78-66 by Nebraska. Afterward, Nemeiksa was named to the five-player all-tournament team.
Those who cleared their schedules, either in person or for the ESPN broadcast were treated to an edge-of-your-seat contest with 17 ties and 20 lead changes.
Ganot, who battled an illness all tournament week, was in a jubilant mood as his team managed a 2-1 record over four days and heads into the full Big West season in the new year at 8-4. It is a better record at this stage than might've been expected, given the Rainbow Warriors' heavy offseason graduations and roster turnover that included the team's top seven scorers.
"That felt like a program win," Ganot said. "Plays being made both sides, but also fatigue being felt both sides. As a result, just incredible effort."
The junior Rouhliadeff came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field and 5-for-5 at the line. Center Tanner Christensen fouled out with 11 rebounds and five points as UH won the glass by 10 against a team that nearly knocked off Oregon State with interior physicality in an overtime loss on Monday.
And freshman guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, a Wahiawa native who finished his high school career at Salesian (Calif.) Prep, played a season-high 28 minutes, nearly double his previous high, with four rebounds, four assists and one turnover.
Hunkin-Claytor said he'd been treating recent practices as games in order to show he was worthy of more playing time. Ganot agreed and let him run the show almost exclusively in the second half and overtime in relief of Kody Williams.
"He earned the right to play some more recently," Ganot said. "He was really good defensively in key stretches. He gave a presence of calmness on the floor. I’m really proud for him because it’s a special moment for him as a result of the work he’s put in."
Said Hunkin-Claytor, "(Ganot) really just told me, ‘just keep doing what you’re doing.’ He didn’t say anything to rattle me."
The last several days marked the first time this season that Oakland (4-9) has been healthy. The Grizzlies' record was deceiving for another reason, as two of the losses came at No. 1 Kansas and at No. 20 Michigan State, with several other difficult road games.
Oakland gave up a late run to fall to Oregon State in overtime on Monday, but looked clearly superior up front. Against UH, though, two key players, Allen David Mukeba and DQ Cole were saddled with early foul trouble. Mukeba, who set a tournament record by going 10-for-10 against OSU, missed his first five shots and fouled out with a season-low four points.
Ganot said his group tried to mix in some unpredictable support on the Oakland posts so that even when help wasn't coming, they would feel like it was. It seemed to pay off as the Grizzlies struggled on some close-range shots and converted just above 30% of their looks in the first half.
Kampe, who memorably allowed sniper Jack Gohlke to run wild in the NCAA Tournament, had a ready-made successor in Christie. The Grizzlies increasingly went to the wiry Canadian with sports goggles on some high degree-of-difficulty shots speeding around curls. He side-stepped and step-backed his way to a career-high 27 points, including seven 3-point makes, on 8-for-24 shooting overall. He had two four-point plays in the first 10 minutes of the second half, baiting Tom Beattie into fouls. Oakland compiled some big runs and led by eight with 7:46 to play.
UH responded with 10 straight points to get back in it.
Christie's seventh 3 answered a Nemeiksa triple and tied it up for the last time at 70 with 1:36 left in OT, setting the stage for the Rouhliadeff tip-in.
"A lot of conditioning," Hunkin-Claytor said of what it took to try to stay with Christie. "You really just gotta run him off the line. He’s a really good player, really good shooter. They had a player like that last year, as well. So we knew we had to do a number on him."
The Grizzlies' post play finally arrived in the form of Tuburu Naivalurua, who hit back-to-back post buckets to twice put Oakland ahead by two in the final minute of regulation.
Rouhliadeff answered the first with a paint hoop. After Naivalurua scored on a reverse layup, UH called timeout with 27 seconds left. Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, who took over point guard duties in the second half for Kody Williams, drove and missed but Tanner Christensen got the offensive board and was fouled with 4.8 seconds left. He hit two clutch foul shots to tie it up.
Both teams had chances to win in the final five seconds of regulation but traded turnovers on their inbounds passes.
Ryan Rapp (12 points) connected on a corner triple to begin overtime and UH did not trail again.
The Golden Grizzlies, in their shifting 1-3-1 zone, allowed Nemeiksa to score his team's first 11 points of the game and he had 17 when Oakland trailed 32-25 at intermission.
"That’s not what we were wanting to do. We just lost him a couple times," Kampe said. "He scored the first 11 points. And then we really put an emphasis on stopping him in the second half and that didn’t work either. Kid’s really good."
Former Cal State Fullerton guard Josh Akognon held the former UH opponent record for 3-point attempts with 18 on Nov. 16, 2008.
UH now heads into the full Big West Conference schedule in the new year with UC Santa Barbara coming to town for a game on Jan. 2.
Note: This story was updated with details, quotes and photos.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.