Sheriff Drammeh attempted to save a ball by leaping over the baseline and firing it off a Princeton player. The gambit worked — until the ball deflected right back at the Hawaii guard and off of him while he stood out of bounds. Tigers ball, as Drammeh went palms up in wide-eyed disbelief.

It was that kind of Christmas morning for the Rainbow Warriors, who were presented with holiday misfortune and reacted with shock, especially during a crucial second-half stretch as the Ivy League team separated for a 77-63 victory.

Princeton guard Devin Cannady scored 26 of his 28 points after halftime as the Tigers (7-7) dealt UH (8-4) a loss on the final day of a December tournament for the second straight year; the school with the surgical offense by reputation showed it off in person in last season’s Pearl Harbor Invitational.

At stake this time was fifth place in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, and the considerable difference between going 2-1 or 1-2 in the eight-team event.

Advantage Princeton, and its 54.2-percent shooting. That despite some similarities between the Tigers and the Wildcats of Davidson, whom UH topped by eight on Saturday.

“Today we were not even close defensively. I gotta do a better job getting our guys ready,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We gotta take advantage of the next couple days. … Let’s get better and learn from this, because we’re going to need to.”

UH concludes nonconference play at home Friday against Howard (3-12).

The second half doomed UH against then-No. 6 Miami on Friday. So it was again Monday, but this time much of it was self-inflicted.

Some missed opportunities at close range, a spate of turnovers and a parade of missed foul shots (9-for-20, including 7-for-17 after intermission) caused heads to hang and the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 1,627 to murmur.

“In the second half, when we hit a drought offensively, not scoring, we let that affect our defense,” said guard Brocke Stepteau, who scored 15 points. “When you’re not scoring on offense, that’s when you should pick up your defense even more and we didn’t do that. (Cannady), we let him get going, and once he did he didn’t miss the rest of the game. That’s basically why we lost.”

Forward Mike Thomas emerged from hibernation — he had no field goals over the first two games of the tournament — for a monster first half, scoring 19 of his 22 points in the period to help his team get into intermission tied at 31. But guard Leland Green and forward Jack Purchase were scoreless on nine shots.

Princeton upped its motion out of the break, going on a 12-2 run and holding a double-figure advantage (that swelled to as many as 16) until Stepteau scored seven straight points to get UH within 67-59 with 2:09 left.

“We’ve had this recurring theme, unfortunately … the way we start second halves,” Ganot said. “And, great teams start off games well, which I think we’ve done. And they’re great second-half teams, especially the first five minutes. Credit them, they were better in that stretch.”

Princeton converted its free throws (16-for-21) to close it out.

Thomas shot 10-for-14 and finished with his highest total since going for a career-high 29 in the second game of the season vs. North Dakota, but was only 1-for-2 in the second half.

“I’ve been in a funk recently. And my teammates have done a great job of being confident in me, looking to find me today,” Thomas said. “I think it was a product of that. Just looking to stay aggressive and understand that I can play.

“In the second half they doubled me and I turned the ball over a few times. I can’t do that. I gotta be patient and look for my guys and let the offense come to me.”

The Tigers won on the road at Cal Poly and USC — the DHC champion — before progressing west. On the five-game swing, they lost to only Middle Tennessee.

“It’s nice to have some positive momentum going into league play,” said Princeton coach Mitch Henderson.

He credited Cannady with an adjustment to attack the rim and get to the line for all of his 16 free-throw attempts after halftime. The 6-1 Cannady made 12 and grabbed eight rebounds.

“That’s something we needed, when your scoring guard gets that many boards, it makes a big difference,” Henderson said.