With a mixture of will and grace, the Hawaii basketball team maneuvered its way to a 69-56 victory over Portland in Thursday’s opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 3,632 saw the Rainbow Warriors advance into tonight’s semifinal against Georgia Tech. Tip-off is optimistically set for 6 p.m.
Matt Cotton scored 15 points from near and far, Bernardo da Silva controlled the low post with 14 paint points and 11 rebounds, and the ’Bows concocted a defensive strategy to slow the Pilots’ most prolific scorer.
Tyler Robertson, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound guard, entered averaging 16.8 points on 48.3% shooting. In the first half, Robertson used back-back-back moves to post up 6-2 Noel Coleman.
“We started off with Noel because we thought (Robertson would) be coming off ball screens a little more or coming off staggers,” UH associate head coach John Montgomery said. “We switched it up and put a bigger body on him.”
With 6-8 forward Justin McKoy playing static-cling defense, Robertson managed 5 points on 1-for-3 shooting after the intermission. Robertson finished with 11 points while turning the ball over five times.
In the first half, Cotton said, Robertson was “pretty much posting up every possession. Coach (Eran Ganot) made a great adjustment by putting one of our bigger guys on him. Limiting his touches in the post was a big adjustment for us.”
Portland coach Shantay Legans said “turnovers were kind of a bugaboo for (Robertson). He has to play through some physicality.”
With the Pilots switching defenders out of the man-to-man, particularly on ball screens, the game became a physical battle. On some switches, guards would try to gain leverage on the 6-9 da Silva.
“They tried their best to keep us out of the post,” da Silva said. “They’re pretty physical. We tried our best to take the physicality to them.”
Legans said: “They’re a physical team, a good team, really well coached. They have veterans on their team. They’re an older team. They knew what they wanted to do, and they played a great game. I thought we got into foul trouble early, which really hurt our rotations. You have to give them credit. They’re tough.”
After an erratic start in which they missed their first six shots, the ’Bows hit their final four shots of the half to take a 34-27 lead. It was 25-22 when UH forward Harry Rouhliadeff buried a 3 with his toes just outside the arc.
Soon after, with 7-foot-1 Mor Seck sealing the left side of the lane, Cotton drove and then soared for a left-handed jam.
“I knew I was going to drive,” Cotton said. “Nobody came over to help.”
Montgomery said the dunk was a confidence boost. “He did that,” Montgomery said of Cotton, “and the rim opened up for him. He got some good looks. It was good for him and good for us.”
When the Pilots closed to 54-45, Cotton sank a 3 from the left wing. When the margin was down to 57-50, Cotton buried consecutive 3s, one from each corner.
“Throughout the game spotting up and being shot ready,” Cotton said. “Always being aggressive and ready to shoot, and they were able to find me.”
Montgomery said Cotton “is a good shooter. It was a confidence thing. He was able to step up and knock ’em down. He’s super athletic. He’s fast. He can shoot. He can do a lot of things. We keep instilling confidence in him to go out and do it. Sometimes he needs the first shot to go in.”
Coleman added 14 points for the ’Bows.
