With an interior-designed attack, the University of Hawaii basketball team overpowered UC San Diego 79-56 Saturday night in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd 1,695 saw the Rainbow Warriors improve to 7-5 with their third consecutive victory over a Big West opponent. Because the Tritons (8-8) are in the second year of a four-year transition to Division I, the outcome does not count toward the Big West standings.
But the ’Bows made their mark with 43 paint points, fueled by power duo Bernardo da Silva and Jerome Desrosiers. In his third game since recovering from a hand injury, da Silva scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and opened the way for Desrosiers and the outside-shooting, lane-driving teammates.
Desrosiers, a 6-foot-8 transfer from Princeton, recorded his third double-double— a first for a ’Bow since 2014. Desrosiers amassed 18 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, including three off the offensive glass.
“Credit to my teammates, for sure,” Desrosiers said. “I stole a couple rebounds from my teammates, which is pretty funny, actually.”
With the return to health for the ’Bows, who had missed four games because of safety-health protocols and injuries, there have been fuller practices and steady roles. Desrosiers appears to be comfortable playing the four. He also praised the support staff for keeping him fresh two nights after the ’Bows’ previous game.
“They take care of us — after every practice, every game,” Desrosiers said. “I think Lawrence (Lam, the team’s athletic trainer) took care of us today. My knee felt great, so I was bouncy.”
Desrosiers poured in 14 points for a 41-18 lead in the ’Bows’ most dominant first half of the season.
Desrosisers was 6-for-8 as the ’Bows connected on 58.1% of their first-half shots. Desrosiers’ baskets came in a variety of ways. After missing a 3, he snaked in for the offensive rebound and then scored on a layup. He parlayed JoVon McClanahan’s inbounds pass into a layup. On a give-and-give-back play, Desrosiers fed McClanahan, took the return pass, then buried a 3 from the top of the key.
“The last 15 minutes of the first half are back to where we’d been playing,” UH coach Eran Ganot said, referencing the ’Bows’ 33-9 finish to the half.
The surge, which included a 10-0 run, featured off-the-bench sparks from Amoro Lado and Zoar Nedd, who hit both of his first-half 3 attempts.
“They’re kind of a pick-your-poison with them,” UCSD coach Eric Olen said. “They kind of got everything going there. We knew we were going to have some matchup issues and different problems. I thought we had some miscommunications and things. We kind of allowed some easier shots than we would have liked in the first half that led to that separation.”
When the Tritons collapsed their switching defense, the ’Bows launched shots from the perimeter. When the defense extended, the ’Bows would loft passes to da Silva, Desrosiers and Kamaka Hepa in the post or to guards on backdoor cuts.
The ’Bows also controlled the boards, constructing a 41-21 advantage in rebounds. The Tritons managed only two offensive rebounds. They had zero second-chance points.
“I thought we imposed our will inside, imposed our will on the glass,” Ganot said.
Junior Madut added 15 points for the ’Bows.