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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team captured the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic title with a hard-earned 65-62 victory Monday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors improved to 3-0 on the season for their best start in six years.
The nationally-televised game—which tipped of at 11:00 p.m. local time—was emotionally charged from the get-go with the Rainbow Warriors eventually grinding out the win. The lead changed hands 11 times, including seven times in the second half, before UH took the lead for good at the four-minute mark and held off a game Chippewa (1-2) squad.
Bill Amis led the way for UH with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting, while also adding eight rebounds. Tournament MVP
Hiram Thompson battled foul trouble all game before finishing with 15 points, while
Joston Thomas chipped in 14 and
Zane Johnson 13 points.
UH got off to a fast start and took a 21-12 lead midway through the first half. The Chippewas answered with a 16-4 run to go up 28-25 and CMU eventually took a narrow 34-33 lead into the locker room.
The second half was a see-saw affair. An 11-4 run gave UH a 50-43 lead with less than 10 minutes left, but CMU, led by Trey Zeigler's 24-point performance, continued to stick around and recaptured the lead twice in the final five minutes.
UH took the lead for good on a Johnson runner with 3:57 as the 'Bows scored their final five points from the free throw line and held the Chippewas to just one field goal the rest of the way.
UH overcame a season-high 20 turnovers by shooting 54 percent from the floor and holding CMU to just 38 percent shooting. The win gave UH its 12th all-time Rainbow Classic title and first since the tournament went to a four-team, round-robin format in 2009.
The Rainbow Warriors will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 19 when they host Central Arkansas. The game will tip-off at about 7:30, following the women's basketball season-opener.
All-Tournament Team
Orane Chin (Cal State Fullerton)
Bobby Howard (Montana State)
Jalin Thomas (Central Michigan)
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