The postman delivered the Hawaii basketball team an 88-56 victory over Mississippi Valley State in the opening round of the Outrigger Rainbow Classic in Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 1,943 saw 6-foot-9 Harry Rouhliadeff play the four and five positions, score 22 points, grab five offensive rebounds and take a turn guarding volume-shooting Michael James.
“He’s been doing that for four years,” said assistant coach Gibson Johnson, who coaches UH’s post players. “He’s our rock. He’s someone we rely on. We ask a lot of him. There’s a reason he’s our senior captain. He’s a stud. He responds to coaching. He does what we ask him to do. If we ask him to play point guard, I’m sure he’d say, ‘Yes, Coach.’ He has the versatility to play both offensively and defensively at the four and the five. We’re going to rely a lot on him.”
With a deep roster, the ’Bows can play several combinations. Rouhliadeff plays power forward when 7-foot Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson is the center, and slides to the five when paired with Gytis Nemeiksa in the frontcourt. But Rouhliadeff also has leaked out to the perimeter, where he buried three 3-point shots.
“I put in the work every day,” the Australia-reared Rouhliadeff said of his versatility.
There were sets when Rouhliadeff had single coverage on James, who entered the week second nationally in shots attempted while averaging 24.7 points per game. James was held to 11 points — four in the first half — on 4-for-16 shooting. James was 1-for-6 from behind the arc.
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“It was a little unexpected,” Rouhliadeff said of the matchup against the 6-foot-1 guard. “Stuff happens. I stuck with it and guarded him for the rest of the possession.”
UH point guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, fully healed from a preseason hand injury, had 11 assists and two steals.
“We had a lot of fun out there,” Hunkin-Claytor said. “It was good to be back on the court. I’m starting to get a rhythm again and getting back into playing shape, too.”
Hunkin-Claytor lobbed two passes that turned into Hunter Erickson layups. Erickson, who transferred from Utah in June, hit four 3s and finished with 18 points.
“I love it,” Hunkin-Claytor said of playing in the same backcourt with the 6-3 Erickson. “He gives me assists, which is really nice. When he shoots the ball, it gets everyone to converge to him and it gets everyone else open. Harry gets shots. Everybody gets shots off that.”
Johnson said of Erickson: “I’ve known Hunter for years and years and years. I’ve watched him grow up when he was playing in high school. He was the leading scorer in the state of Utah in high school. He has years of Big 12 basketball underneath his belt. His leadership on both offense and defense is huge for us. He’s the anchor of our defense at the guard spot and will make you pay on offense. He plays the right way. When the game comes to him and he has an open shot, he’ll knock it down.”
The ’Bows scored the first nine points, expanded the lead to 49-23 at the intermission and went up as big as 84-51 with 3:53 to go.
“We want to hit first,” Hunkin-Claytor said. “We want to be the first team to throw the punch. We want to be consistent with that. We play off each other early, get a rhythm going early.”
The ’Bows play Manhattan in Friday’s second round of the 69th tournament.
Manhattan 79, Utah Tech 75
Point guard Devin Dinkins scored 20 points, including three key free throws in the final 19.5 seconds, to lift the Jaspers in the opener.
The Blazers stole a pass into the lane, and Chance Trujillo was fouled. Trujillo made the first free throw to close the Blazers to 76-75 with 29 seconds to play, but missed the second.
Dinkins was fouled with 19.5 seconds to play. His two free throws increased the Jaspers’ lead to 78-75.
Trujillo’s driving layup would not fall, and the Jaspers gained possession Dinkins was fouled, and hit a free throw to make it a two-possession game.
Dinkins, who played all 40 minutes, made five of 11 shots, including two from behind the arc, and converted on eight of nine free throws. Ethan Potter led the Blazers with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
HAWAII 88, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 56
DELTA DEVILS (1-3)
NO. PLAYER PTS FG-A 3PT-A FT-A OR DR REB A PF TO BL ST MIN +/-
0 Punch 10 3-7 2-3 2-3 0 1 1 0 4 2 0 2 24 -19
2 Holmes 5 2-8 0-1 1-2 1 1 2 3 1 0 0 2 31 -32
3 Sams 9 4-11 1-3 0-0 2 1 3 1 2 0 1 0 23 -31
10 James 11 4-16 1-6 2-2 0 1 1 3 3 2 0 0 39 -30
22 Mayfield 7 2-8 1-2 2-2 0 2 2 0 3 3 0 2 17 -13
5 Sutton 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 0 3 0 0 1 14 -12
20 Mzein 5 2-4 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 0 3 1 0 0 20 -17
21 Murray 7 2-4 0-1 3-4 2 1 3 0 3 0 1 2 27 -11
35 Pace 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 3 5
TEAM 1 1 2 1
TOTALS 56 20-59 5-16 11-15 9 15 24 8 23 9 2 9 200
Percentages 33.9 31.3 73.3
RAINBOW WARRIORS (2-1)
NO. PLAYER PTS FG-A 3PT-A FT-A OR DR REB A PF TO BL ST MIN +/-
0 Erickson 18 7-10 4-7 0-0 0 6 6 2 1 0 0 1 28 27
4 Bullock 9 2-3 2-3 3-5 0 6 6 1 0 1 0 0 23 23
14 Rouhliadeff 22 8-13 3-4 3-3 5 0 5 2 2 0 0 0 27 30
20 Johnson 9 2-3 0-0 5-5 1 4 5 0 2 0 0 0 16 14
30 Hunkin-Claytor 2 0-4 0-3 2-4 0 2 2 11 2 4 0 2 30 34
2 Carter 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 -1
5 Nemeiksa 5 1-5 1-3 2-2 1 4 5 0 1 3 0 0 14 7
6 Finlinson 6 1-3 0-0 4-4 2 3 5 1 2 1 0 1 15 5
7 Kerr 0 0-4 0-3 0-1 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 15 1
8 Economou 2 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 5 7
9 Myers 4 1-4 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 8 6
10 Toumi 11 5-5 0-0 1-3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 14 7
TEAM 5 3 8
Totals 88 28-56 10-23 22-29 14 31 45 19 15 11 1 5 200
Percentages 50.0 43.5 75.9
Halftime — Hawaii 88, Mississippi Valley State 56
Technical fouls — none. Officials — Ervin Wilson, Jeff Campbell, Jeffery Malham. A —
4,091.
