Weifang, China » China suddenly wasn’t so foreign for the Hawaii men’s basketball team.
The Rainbow Warriors notched their first overseas victory in the Warriors to Asia tour on Sunday night with a convincing 86-71 win over the Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association.
A crowd of nearly 1,000 at Weifang College Gym watched UH seize control in the opening minutes and never relinquish a double-digit lead after jumping out to a 27-9 advantage.
UH closed out the game effectively, unlike earlier contests on the trip in which the ‘Bows sputtered in the second half, including during an 81-80 Eagles win on Friday.
"It was great. I’ve said from Day 1, this isn’t about wins and losses," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "It’s more about the experience, but any time you’ve got officials and a clock and keeping score, you want to win. We felt after that last game that we could beat these guys and we could win, and had a little bit to prove."
The rematch was all about UH’s big men. Junior forward Joston Thomas scored 17 of his 20 points off the bench in the first half, sophomore center Davis Rozitis added 19 points and junior swingman Hauns Brereton 14 by crashing for offensive rebounds.
Freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes helped put the game away with nine of his 12 points in the fourth quarter.
UH exhibited pretty passing all night, including from its frontcourt, and the Eagles were a step behind in forcing only 11 turnovers on the visitors.
The Rainbows also seemed fully adjusted to the 24-second shot clock (down from 35 in the college game), which seemed to give them trouble previously. Rarely were shots forced up as the clock wound down.
Guard Li Geng, who torched UH for 33 points on Friday, was held to 15 in the rematch.
Qingdao coach Jhang Shi Jhang noticed an entirely different UH team than the one he saw on Friday. He even appreciated the way Arnold worked the Chinese referees all game.
"They play hard, very hard. Defense of NBA teams," Jhang said through a team interpreter. "Everybody rebounds, defends. Their coach is better." He laughed.
Arnold also did a little tinkering with his lineup.
Sophomore forward Trevor Wiseman got the start, but Thomas came into the game full of energy. He took over in the second quarter, pouring in 15 points in the 10-minute period. Even two missed ambitious dunks were impressive.
"There were times last game where we got tired and didn’t execute because we were tired," Thomas said. "When we were at halftime we told each other we didn’t fly all the way over here to be tired. Just played through the fatigue, and just kept going to the glass and they couldn’t stop us.
"I got a good stretch in before the game," he added. "Shoutouts to my man Chris (strength coach McMillian). I was pretty fired up."
A big test will be if UH can maintain that energy through travel and game fatigue. Sunday night’s contest was the first of three straight days of games. The Rainbows play the Liaoning Panpan (also known as the Shenyang Dinosaurs) today and Tuesday to close out their action against CBA teams. UH ends the trip against the Panasonic Trians of the Japan Basketball League.
The good news for the Rainbows: Senior guard Zane Johnson seems recovered from his sprained ankle. He played about 5 minutes against the Eagles; his 3-point shot was a bit rusty, but he did hit two midrange jumpers for four points off the bench.
"I don’t think we’ll have him full by the end of the trip, but maybe give him some more minutes the next three games," Arnold said.
