Hawaii’s basketball road woes continue

By Fred Guzman

Hawaii 5-1 doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it? But that’s where things stand for the UH basketball team following a painful 54-53 loss last night at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Unable to overcome 27 turnovers, Hawaii suffered its 13th straight road setback in a game that ended on a controversial note.

When the final buzzer sounded, both teams were claiming victory. The Mustangs, because they felt guard Chris O’Brien’s putback shot had beaten the clock. The Bows, because they felt the shot was taken after time had expired.

In the absence of video replay, the officials ruled in favor of the home team and Hawaii was dealt its first loss of the season.

UH had largely itself to blame for the deflating defeat. An inability to take care of the ball negated Hawaii’s 51.4 percent shooting from the field and out-rebounding their opponent by 10.

A sloppy start resulted in a 10-point deficit for UH, which rallied for a two-point lead at halftime. The Rainbows appeared to have sealed the deal when Jostin Thomas hit a baseline jumper with 22 seconds left. That gave him 10 points for the game. Unfortunately, he also was responsible for 10 of his team’s turnovers.

Hawaii’s will try to brake its road skid against a difficult opponent on Saturday. The Bows will be visiting Brigham Young, which improved to 7-0 last night with a 77-65 road win over Creighton.