by LA JOLLA, Calif.– The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team was victorious in its first true road game of the season with a 62-49 win over UC San Diego Thursday night at LioinTree Arena. UH improved to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the Big West with their seventh straight win.
For the second straight game UH led from wire-to-wire, fueled by a stifling defense effort and a strong closeout. UH held UCSD (6-9, 1-2) scoreless for a near nine-minute stretch in the first half to build a 14-point halftime lead and closed the game with a 9-0 run to keep their win streak going. The team’s seven straight wins matches last year’s longest streak, which included a perfect 6-0 conference start.
Bernardo da Silva led UH with a career high 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting, while also adding seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals. JoVon McClanahan added 11 points and a season-high six assists, while Noel Coleman and Kamaka Hepa also added 11 points a piece.
UH got off to a strong start scoring eight of the game’s first 10 points and held a 19-17 midway through the first half. It was at that point the ‘Bows made their pivotal move, scoring 10 unanswered points to spark a 16-4 run that gave UH a 35-21 lead at half. The ‘Bows held the Tritons scoreless for nearly nine minutes in that stretch and forced UCSD into 10 first-half turnovers. UH was also alive on offense. Less than a week after going a season-low 1-of-11 on three pointers, UH respond by drilling five of its first 10 attempts from beyond the arc and shooting 52 percent in the first half.
The Tritons didn’t fold and started the second half with an 8-0 run to prompt a UH timeout. UCSD continued its comeback efforts through the half, getting as close as four on multiple occasions, the final time when they cut the deficit to 50-46 with 4:09 left. But UH shut the door with a strong finish. Sparked by back-to-back three pointers by McClanahan and Coleman, the ‘Bows scored on its final five possessions to make it a double-digit margin and put the game to bed.
