The wrong kind of Stan Sheriff Center scoring record looked to be in jeopardy for much of Hawaii’s battle with old WAC foe Utah on Friday night.
UH was in the 20s through the 10-minute mark of the second half. The 22-year-old building’s mark for fewest points, 37, was in play.
But unlike Thursday’s loss to Illinois State, the Rainbow Warriors kept at it when shots weren’t falling. A spate of late baskets saved the ’Bows from the dubious record, but not a 66-52 loss to the Runnin’ Utes in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic consolation semifinals.
Forward Jack Purchase (team-high 13 points) was relatively upbeat as he took the interview podium by himself.
“That was probably the most embarrassing game I’ve been a part of,” the Australian said of the 71-45 loss to ISU. “I had everybody watching back home. I’m happy how we came out today, fought harder.”
A crowd of 2,674 saw UH (4-7) drop its fourth straight and head into the seventh-place game for the first time in the nationally televised tournament’s eight years. The ’Bows will try to salvage a win against Southern Miss (3-8) of Conference USA at 9:30 a.m. Christmas Day on ESPNU.
Utah (8-3) advanced to the fifth-place game against Stephen F. Austin preceding UH’s game.
A night after UH set a tournament record for shooting futility, the ’Bows were in the same neighborhood in the first half (25 percent) and scored a season-low 18 points in trailing by 13 at intermission.
They finished shooting below 30 percent (29.4) for the second straight night, but their defense was improved, and only three of their 14 turnovers came after halftime. Utah shot 47.1 percent but committed 16 turnovers.
“We can’t be OK with a loss,” UH coach Eran Ganot said a night after challenging his team’s commitment. “We can’t be in this moral victory phase, but there was an improvement in effort. That shouldn’t be talked about anymore. There shouldn’t be a question on that. I know we’re going through some challenges and limitations … a lot more struggles recently. But you gotta be a professional. Understand what it means to be part of this program.”
UH picked it up out of the break, scoring on three straight possessions to get within nine.
Working in UH’s favor, Utes guard Sedrick Barefield — who scored 35 against San Francisco in an opening-round loss Thursday — was in foul trouble the whole way and was disqualified with four points.
So Utah kept pounding it inside, led by forward David Collette (17 points, nine rebounds) in the absence of injured double-double threat Kyle Kuzma. The Utes won the points-in-the-paint battle 40-18.
Forward Noah Allen, the season-leading scorer, was a non-factor with two points in 18 minutes. He sat down the stretch.
“We didn’t have quite the threat from the perimeter that we had (against San Francisco),” Utes coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “I thought that was kind of the theme — come out, play hard, maybe not as complicated of a game plan as as we played against San Francisco with that Princeton offense. It seemed like the guys freed up their minds defensively.”
When Sheriff Drammeh held the ball at the top of the arc and forced a terrible shot over a defender at the end of the shot clock, some boos rained down.
“You’re supposed to get one of those every month. We have three or four a game,” Ganot said. “(Our guards) are still learning.”
But there were some cheers by the end, too; Utah couldn’t pull away. A 9-0 UH run got the ’Bows within 49-38 with 6:30 left.
Purchase’s free throws with three minutes left made it a 10-point game. That was short lived, as Collette scored inside and Parker Van Dyke hit a corner 3.
San Diego State 82, Tulsa 63
The Aztecs advanced to their second Diamond Head Classic championship game in five years by blitzing the Golden Hurricane in the final 11 minutes.
Over that span, SDSU (7-4) outscored TU 30-11, turning a 52-all tie into a rout in the matchup of former WAC teams. Jeremy Hemsley led the Aztecs with 20 points on 5-for-7 3-point shooting, while Trey Kell added 19 points and four assists.
SDSU lost 68-67 to Arizona in the 2012 title game.
Junior Etou led Tulsa (6-5) with 18 points and seven rebounds.
San Francisco 66, Illinois State 58
Four players scored in double figures for the balanced Dons, who reached the Diamond Head title game for the first time in two appearances in the event.
USF (10-2) weathered a poor shooting game from the field and the free-throw line to gradually pull ahead late. Point guard Charles Minlend scored 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting, Frankie Ferrari had 16 points and six rebounds, while forward Matt McCarthy added 11 points and 11 boards for the Dons.
Forward MiKyle McIntosh led the Redbirds (7-4) with 20 points and 12 rebounds, but shot 6-for-20 from the field.
Stephen F. Austin 67, Southern Miss 64
The Lumberjacks (5-6) rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit and into the fifth-place game when Chase Winchester and Ivan Canete converted four straight free throws in the final two minutes.
Canete led the Southland Conference team from east Texas with 18 points.
The Golden Eagles (3-8) got 11 points apiece from Cortez Edwards and Quinton Campbell. Campbell missed a tying 3-point attempt with 19 seconds left.
