Hawaiʻi Basketball Stays Undefeated Against Northern Arizona
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Their last and only meeting came in an 85-68 win in Honolulu on Nov. 18, 2018.
Despite a later-than-normal 8:30 p.m. tipoff time due to the Maui Invitational, a crowd of 3,853 at the Stan Sheriff Center saw the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team take down the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, 70-61.
JoVon McClanahan was one of four Rainbow Warriors to break 10 points. McClanahan led UH with 13. He was followed by 11 points from Justin McKoy and 10 apiece from Matthue Cotton and Juan Munoz.
Trenton McLaughlin led Northern Arizona with 14 points. He was followed by 13 from Jayden Jackson and 10 from Oakland Fort.
The 'Bows got out to a fast start and scored seven of the game's first nine points before the first media timeout. Yale transfer Cotton showed his four-point game against Niagara was no fluke, as he scored four of those seven points.
After extending their lead to 16-8, the Lumberjacks got hot, and the 'Bows' shooting began to get a little sketchy. By the 5:33 mark, the Lumberjacks took a four-point lead, 25-21, but the 'Bows had no intention to lose their first game of the season.
While the Lumberjacks went 3-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half, the 'Bows had trouble buying a triple from likely candidates like Munoz, McKoy, and Noel Coleman. The 'Bows finally got a triple from Cotton at the 4:50 mark. Cotton would hit a second triple in the second half, en route to 10 points for the night.
"I wasn't really worried about the missed shots because I know they'll fall," Munoz said.
"I'm glad our guys kept shooting," said head coach Eran Ganot. "We're going to be in trouble if we pass up open shots."
Hawaiʻi retook the lead off two McClanahan free throws with 2:46 remaining. They would not lose the lead from then on.NAU only made one field goal in that last 2:46, while McClanahan sent the Stan Sheriff Center crowd into a frenzy when he buried UH's second triple at the buzzer. UH would lead, 35-29, after the first half.
The second half opened with two NAU field goals from Fort and Jackson to cut the gap to two. Hawaiʻi was not intimidated in any way though.
McClanahan and McKoy buried two UH field goals to keep NAU back. That was when NAU's Liam Lloyd was called for a traveling violation, which later turned into a technical foul with 15:54 remaining.
Despite the technical foul, NAU was far from done. They cut UH's lead down to a single point, 47-46 before head coach Shane Burcar got a technical foul of his own with 10:02 remaining.
Munoz sank both free throws, then sank a deep triple, and UH kept things steady for the rest of the game, en route to the 70-61 victory.
Free throws told the story, as NAU shot 50% (9-for-18) to UH's 77.8% (21-for-27). NAU went 0-for-3 on free throws in the first half while UH shot 69% (9-for-13).
UH will begin its first road trip of the season in Palm Springs, CA for the Acrisure Invitational on Friday, Nov. 24 against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros at 3 p.m. HST.
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