The halftime trade wasn’t the injustice. It was that almost no one was there to see how it ended.

Senior forward Bill Amis dominated the Hawaii men’s basketball team’s intra-squad scrimmage at the Stan Sheriff Center yesterday, especially once coach Gib Arnold made the executive decision to swap Amis from the seasoned White team to the youthful Black squad at halftime.

Amis put his new teammates on his back and finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds, including the game-winning putback at the buzzer, as the Black team came from behind to win 74-73.

The revitalized Amis, coming off a foot injury that forced him to redshirt in 2009-10, played strong in the closest thing yet to a real game for Arnold’s new-look Rainbow Warriors. Some of his highlights included a nasty lefty slam on a feed from freshman point guard Bobby Miles and a stream of jumpers at the top of the key.

That tip-in at the buzzer, though, following misses by guard Jordan Coleman and center Vander Joaquim, had assistant coach Brandyn Akana and teammates bear-hugging Amis like UH had just won a championship. It definitely was a big moment for a team searching for a new identity.

"I just tried to tip it in. Luckily the lights aren’t on on the backboard or else it might have been at zeros," Amis said with a grin. "I don’t even know. But it started from Vander getting an offensive board and getting it up quick."

"It was good," said Miles, holding hands up like a referee signaling a field goal.

Miles was, too. Akana thought he did an "excellent job" of running the Black offense with eight assists.

The Rainbows tried to immerse themselves in a game setting, using two 20-minute halves, referees and a halftime meeting in the locker rooms. All they were missing was a crowd.

The first half was somewhat sloppy, forcing Arnold to intervene with criticisms and pointed suggestions, especially to the Black team, which had all four of UH’s true freshmen.

Once Amis was swapped for hurting forward Trevor Wiseman (neck pull) and guard Pi’i Minns — a trade that’d get vetoed in any fantasy league — the Black team made up an eight-point halftime deficit. It helped that White point guard Hiram Thompson, effective in the early minutes, gingerly went out after taking a charge from Amis and didn’t return.

From there, Arnold mostly paced the court as assistants Akana and Benjy Taylor yelled out instructions.

"I’m pleased with the progression. It’s where we planned it to be," Arnold said. "It’s still kind of not tight yet, still a grind. We still forget plays on occasion. I told them before the game, I’m not going to yell at you if you miss a shot, not going to get after you if you forget a play. That’s fine, that happens early. … We talk about, if you’re going to make a mistake, make an aggressive mistake. We did make a lot of mistakes, but I think a lot of them were pretty aggressive mistakes."

Junior shooting guard Zane Johnson led the White team with 24 points, including four 3-pointers. His highlight was a soaring, contested dunk attempt that took him higher than he, or anyone else, expected; the ball ricocheted off the back rim and out to midcourt. He got the ball back in the corner and drained a 3-pointer, something more his style.

"The intensity was there; it definitely showed we were learning in practice because no one really messed up on the plays," Johnson said. "Above all, I think everyone played hard and everyone wanted to be here. You can tell it’s a different culture of basketball this year. It starts with the coaches."

Miles displayed heady play, while Joaquim was strong early for the Black team with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting and six rebounds. Coleman overcame early struggles for five steals in the second half.

Individual tickets on sale

Single-game tickets go on sale tomorrow for the UH men’s and women’s 2010-11 basketball seasons.

Lower-level tickets for UH men’s games are $26, while the upper level rates are $18 for adults, $16 for senior citizens and $5 for students in high school or younger.

For UH women’s games, it’s $7 general admission for adults.

Tickets are available at the Stan Sheriff Center box office, by calling 944-2697 or by visiting www.hawaiiathletics.com.