Photo Gallery: Sports Extra: UH vs. Cal State Northridge

The scoring binge from Zane Johnson wasn’t surprising, and even expected. From Trevor Wiseman? Not so much.

Johnson hit six 3-pointers en route to 24 points and Wiseman added career highs of 19 points and 16 rebounds as the Hawaii men’s basketball team won its season opener over Cal State Northridge, 86-67 in the early morning at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A late-night crowd of about 3,000 was on hand to see the Rainbow Warriors dominate the second half and remain perfect in openers under second-year coach Gib Arnold.

Many more saw the blowout on national TV. The game, which finished at about 1:15 a.m. today, was held at a late hour to accommodate the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.

UH came out with none of the sluggishness apparent in a six-point exhibition win over Division II Hawaii Pacific just three days prior.

Johnson scored 15 of UH’s first 22 points, briefly becoming a trending topic on Twitter for his nationally televised outburst.

"Really? Nice. Nice," Johnson said when informed afterward. "I’ll have to check my Twitter. … It feels good in a lot of different ways that we played really good defense and show that we could turn it around from the other night."

The 6-foot-7 Wiseman played large at the power forward spot in tipping rebounds to himself against taller Matadors. Often, he would start a rejuvenated UH fast break himself up the middle of the court.

"I’ve never seen Trevor play like that. He was out of his mind," Johnson said.

Wiseman — whose previous career bests were 13 points and eight boards — was nonchalant about his first career double-double.

"Coach just told me to go out there and play energetic. That’s just what I was doing," Wiseman said. "Last year he looked to me for my defensive skills. I worked during the summer (on my offense) and brought it for the first game."

Freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes, UH’s most heralded newcomer, overcame a slow start to put in 14 points with five assists. Junior center Vander Joaquim added 12 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore guard Bobby Miles was solid with eight points and five assists.

There won’t be a whole lot of time to savor the victory. Up next for the Rainbow Warriors is a Saturday matchup with No. 22 Gonzaga in Vancouver, Canada. The ‘Bows depart on Thursday night.

CSUN came in with a reputation of throwing varied and unusual defenses at opponents. The youngest team in the country lived up to its billing by attempting to disrupt UH with off-and-on fullcourt pressure and a 1-3-1 zone.

Arnold went with a small lineup to counteract the guard-oriented, pressure-happy Matadors. He started both of his point guards, Stokes and Miles. As insurance, Wiseman’s ball-handling ability was added to the starting group.

"I was a little nervous about this game, but the guys handled it well, they were able to recognize the different defenses, and do what we wanted to do according to our scout," Arnold said. "Especially that second half, once they got into the rhythm of the game, then they did a real nice job."

Once the Rainbow Warriors established a double-digit lead early in the second half, CSUN (0-2) had to drop back into a more conservative defense to protect against UH fast breaks.

A dose of last season’s trademark suffocating defense was in order, as CSUN shot a paltry 31 percent from the field, and just 3-for-23 (13 percent) on 3-pointers.

"It’s a function of bad offense, trying to do too much and not playing together," CSUN coach Bobby Braswell said. "And it’s a function of us not getting stops defensively to get easier baskets. We’re going to have to create opportunities off turnovers, and if we’re not defending and constantly taking the ball out of the rim, that works to our disadvantage.

"For about 20 minutes, I thought we were solid. The second half was just not even close. They just beat us down pretty good."

Behind Johnson and Wiseman, UH sizzled early in both halves. The two carried their team to 47.4 percent shooting and equaled the team’s highest scoring output of last year’s 19-13 season.

UH outscored CSUN 33-11 coming out of the break and enjoyed its biggest lead at 70-45 with 8:30 to play. CSUN went on a 9-0 run from there to cut into the deficit, but the closest it would get would be 13 with 2:12 left.

At first, the fullcourt pressure bothered the ‘Bows into nine first-half turnovers. But UH forced the Matadors to drop back with aggressive play early in the second half. Its first turnover of the period came with 12 minutes to play in the game, and by the ‘Bows had built up a solid double-digit lead.

Freshman guard Stefan Hicks led the Matadors with 22 points and 17 rebounds. No other CSUN player grabbed more than five boards.

Johnson hit a one-dribble pull-up 3-pointer, then scored on a fast-break layup to knot the game at 22. It was part of a 15-1 run that allowed UH to lead the rest of the half.

UH carried a 37-34 lead into the break thanks to some scoring in the final first-half minutes from Wiseman, who had 10 points in the period.

CSUN was the first of several preview opponents for next season, when UH leaves the Western Athletic Conference and joins the the Big West Conference.

It was the fourth straight year UH participated in the ESPN marathon. It improved to 3-1 in those contests.