LAHAINA - It was a quick trip with a small group, but it worked well for the University of Hawaii men's basketball team.
Despite losing senior point guard Hiram Thompson 4 1/2 minutes into Friday night's game when his back stiffened up after he fell while battling for a loose ball, UH used its remaining eight players - all of them scored - to cruise to an 86-57 win over Chicago State at the Lahaina Civic Center.
The game was the Rainbow Warriors' first on Maui since they played in the 2003 EA Sports Maui Invitational.
Article Photos
Joston Thomas celebrates from the University of Hawaii bench late in the Rainbow Warriors’ 86-57 victory over Chicago State on Friday at the Lahaina Civic Center. Hawaii was playing on Maui for the first time since 2003.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Hawaii's Zane Johnson scored a career-high 21 points and had a team-high seven rebounds, Bo Barnes added 17 points, Joston Thomas had 15 points and six rebounds, Douglas Kurtz had 12 points and six rebounds and freshman Bobby Miles added 10 of his team's 17 assists in place of Thompson.
"Well, 30-point win, I think a couple of the goals we had coming out here we accomplished," UH coach Gib Arnold said after his team improved to 7-2 going into the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, which begins Wednesday at the Stan Sheriff Center. "We made more free throws than they shot and that is always a big stat for us, we outrebounded them by quite a bit. We had 17 assists today, I think that was great - Bobby having 10. There were a lot of good things out there.
"I was very proud, it was a tough game for us, quite honestly. We had just finished finals, we didn't have a full week of practice, we got on the road, we came out here, we have got the big Diamond Head Classic and the (Western Athletic Conference) just around the corner, so I was pleased with how they finished out this game."
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Friday's Results
MEN
AP TOP 25
Charlotte 49, No. 7 Tennessee 48
EAST
Bucknell 89, La Salle 77
Princeton 69, Wagner 57
SOUTH
Chattanooga 71, Elon 65
Clemson 61, Savannah St. 40
New Orleans 77, Webber 58
Virginia 63, Oregon 48
MIDWEST
Indiana 88, SIU-Edwardsville 54
N. Iowa 66, S. Carolina St. 52
FAR WEST
Arizona St. 78, Nevada 75
Colorado 89, The Citadel 61
Hawaii 86, Chicago St. 57
New Mexico 91, Longwood 54
Santa Clara 90, Houston Baptist 67
Utah 86, Boise St. 84
Wyoming 80, Western St., Colo. 37
WOMEN
EAST
Princeton 64, Drexel 52
SOUTH
Jacksonville 72, Wake Forest 66
Louisiana Tech 78, Tulane 72
Louisiana-Lafayette 63, Savannah St. 58
Missouri St. 67, Coppin St. 61
UNC Wilmington 79, Charleston Southern 57
MIDWEST
Memphis 69, Saint Louis 50
Xavier 61, Mississippi St. 36
SOUTHWEST
UTEP 94, Texas St. 57
FAR WEST
Gonzaga 93, Idaho 62
Oregon 82, Denver 71
S. Utah 62, Oregon St. 61
Seattle 92, Sacramento St. 82
Thompson had three points, a turnover and a steal before he went down near midcourt with 15:36 to play in the first half.
"I am down to one senior now with Hiram (out)," Arnold said. "They are going to get an MRI on it, it is his back. He has kind of a bad back and it locked up on him. He couldn't do anything, so I don't know the severity of it. I know that he will be out awhile. I could tell, he could tell, that he was hurt."
Miles' 10 assists are a team high this season.
"Anytime you get 10 assists in a game you have got to be proud of him, especially with a freshman," Arnold said. "I thought he did a good job running our team."
Hawaii also dominated the backboards, outrebounding the Cougars 45-31 for the game, with a 24-16 advantage in the first half.
The attendance was 981 - a teenager's birthday party jammed the lower levels of the arena and rivaled the game for biggest event of the night.
"The crowd was great, it was actually a lot of fun," Arnold said. "They got in it, we got after them early, I got my first technical and after that they really started rocking. It was a good crowd and it was fun to play over here."
Arnold argued a call after Thompson got hurt.
"I asked him very nicely - I said 'Mister Referee, I don't understand the call,' " Arnold said. "They reffed a good game."
Hawaii led 39-29 at halftime on the strength of a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Johnson. The lead grew to 53-32 when Johnson hit another 3-pointer less than three minutes into the second half - he was 5-for-13 from long range and 7-for-17 from the field overall in the game.
The lead ballooned to 78-46 when Trevor Wiseman hit a free throw with 4:51 remaining.
The Rainbow Warriors' lead was 21-11 at the 10-minute mark, but shrank to 31-29 when Victor Scott hit a 3-pointer for the Cougars with 1:30 to go. Hawaii went on an 8-0 run to end the half.
Hawaii shot 25-for-57 (43.9 percent) in the game, and CSU was 21-for-59 (35.6 percent).
Carl Montgomery had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars, while Scott had 12 points.
Bill Amis, the leading scorer this season for UH, missed his fifth straight game with a stress fracture in his right foot.
Miles had six assists and just one turnover in the second half.
"I thought Hiram was coming back in the first half," Miles said. "But when we got into the locker room, coach just said that he is not going in. I just played basketball, got my teammates open and threw them the rock. I am definitely ready if necessary. I liked playing here, it felt like home."
CSU was playing its 10th game away from home.
"I was a coach at DePaul and I have been to Maui a couple of other times, so I have been to Maui and I love this place," said Cougars coach Tracy Dildy. "The people are so good for us. It was just a quick turnaround for us, we played on Tuesday, flew out on Wednesday, couldn't practice on Wednesday, practiced on Thursday, played on Friday and are leaving on Saturday."
The game was a homecoming for Molokai High School graduate Brandyn Akana, who played for the 1992 Maui Interscholastic League championship team in the LCC. Akana was then a standout at BYU-Hawaii and is now in his first year as an assistant for Arnold.
Akana talked to the current Farmer boys team that was at the game after playing in the Lahainaluna Invitational earlier in the day.
"It is a big difference, it is something like a dream," Akana said of being on the UH staff. "It is the best program here in Hawaii. As a young boy, you always watch them, see them play. It is a great dream and it has been a dream of mine to go there and to be at that top level."
* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.
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CHICAGO ST. (57)
Simmons 0-2 1-2 1, J. Montgomery 3-10 2-4 8, C. Montgomery 6-15 4-7 16, Lofton 3-9 3-4 9, Martin 3-4 0-0 6, Martin Jr. 0-0 0-0 0, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Wall 1-6 1-1 3, S. Montgomery 0-4 0-0 0, Scott 4-7 0-0 12, Ukaigwe 1-1 0-3 2, Kielbasa 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 11-21 57.
HAWAII (86)
Miles 1-3 4-4 7, Thompson 1-2 0-0 3, Johnson 7-17 2-2 21, Thomas 4-10 7-8 15, Joaquim 3-5 2-4 8, Wiseman 0-2 1-4 1, Brumfield 1-4 0-0 2, Barnes 5-9 2-2 17, Kurtz 3-5 6-10 12. Totals 25-57 24-34 86.
Halftime-Hawaii 39-29. 3-Point Goals-Chicago St. 4-15 (Scott 4-5, Lofton 0-1, S. Montgomery 0-1, C. Montgomery 0-1, Simmons 0-1, J. Montgomery 0-3, Wall 0-3), Hawaii 12-25 (Barnes 5-8, Johnson 5-13, Miles 1-1, Thompson 1-2, Thomas 0-1). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Chicago St. 31 (C. Montgomery 8), Hawaii 45 (Joaquim 8). Assists-Chicago St. 12 (Simmons 4), Hawaii 17 (Miles 10). Total Fouls-Chicago St. 23, Hawaii 16. Technicals-Chicago St. Bench, Joaquim, Hawaii Bench. A-981.
