Koonce’s monster 2nd half sparks Cal Poly over Hawai’i

Bottom fell out. 

The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team saw a nine-game winning streak against Cal Poly (9-15, 3-9 Big West) snapped on Thursday night, going ice cold over the final eight minutes of regulation as they fell on the road to the Mustangs, 79-63. Cal Poly guard Owen Koonce led all scorers with 20 points, all coming after halftime as he tormented UH defenders down the stretch. 

Gytis Nemeikša and Ryan Rapp were the lone Hawai’i players in double figures, chipping in 13 and 10 points respectively off the bench in the loss. Kody Williams and Tanner Christensen each added nine points as the Rainbow Warriors shot 23% from the field after halftime. Christensen took only five shots throughout the night and only attempted two looks in the second half as UH struggled to get the 6-foot-10 center involved offensively against the smaller Mustangs. 

The Mustangs enjoyed a strong transition attack throughout the game, scoring 18 points on the fast break the just two points for Hawai’i. The Rainbow Warriors (13-10, 5-7 Big West) lost the turnover battle once again, committing five more giveaways than Cal Poly while battling to a tie on the glass. 

Cal Poly also drilled 11 of its 31 attempts from distance, five more 3-pointers than Hawai’i, as the offense slowly heated up until boiling over in the second half for the hosts. The sweet shooting began early as guard Isaac Jessup knocked down a pair of triples to push the Mustangs out to an 11-5 lead through the opening four minutes of play. 

Nemeikša’s first appearance helped Hawai’i pull back within a pair by the 7:30 mark of the first half, sewing together a putback layup with a clean look from distance before a strong Christensen finish capped off the quick run. After Ethan Menzies knocked down his only 3-pointer of the game to put Cal Poly up by seven with under six minutes left in the first half, an aggressive Aaron Hunkin-Claytor helped the Rainbow Warriors rip off a 13-5 run to head into the locker room leading by a point, 35-34. The freshman guard had four points, three rebounds and only one turnover during the final 5:54 of the half, pushing the tempo as he could while creating some easier looks for teammates.

The Mustangs exited the locker rooms with a renewed purpose, scoring the first six points out of halftime before Harry Rouhliadeff finally got Hawai’i on the board off an easy feed from Hunkin-Claytor. Mustangs guard Jarred Hyder rolled in a 3-pointer to put Cal Poly back up by six, but back-to-back buckets from Ryan Rapp started a series of scores from both sides that brought the Rainbow Warriors back. Marcus Greene would drain his only three of the night with 11:22 left in regulation, pulling UH within a point, 52-51. 

Another Nemeikša scoring cluster came following the under-12-minute timeout, giving Hawai’i the lead for the first time since the opening moments of the second half as he knocked down a short jumper with 9:21 left to play to make it 55-54. After the hit by Nemo, the Rainbow Warriors went ice cold for four and a half minutes as they watched Koonce and the Mustangs race back ahead with an 11-0 run. 

Tom Beattie briefly ended the UH scoring drought with a putback at the 5-minute mark, but the Rainbow Warriors would be outscored 14-6 over the final minutes as Cal Poly beat Hawai’i for the first time in five years with a convincing 79-63 decision.

Jerrad Hyder added 18 points in the victory for Cal Poly, knocking down four 3-pointers in 34 minutes of action. Isaac Jessup added nine points, six rebounds and four assists for the Mustangs, who have won three of their last four games after starting the conference slate 0-8. 

Hawai’i will look to bounce back to close out the road trip on Saturday, heading over to UC Santa Barbara to try and muster a split of both the season series and trip to the continent. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. HT.