Feb. 19, 2011

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Zane Johnson poured in nine threes and a game high 32 points, leading Hawai'i to an 83-69 win over the UC Davis men's basketball team in an ESNPU BracketBuster game Saturday at The Pavilion.

UC Davis (9-17) trailed by just one at halftime with a 38-37 score but Hawai'i (15-10) outscored the Aggies 45-32 in the second half. The Rainbow Warriors were on fire, shooting 61 percent (28-46) from the floor, 55 percent (11-20) from three and 73 percent (16-22) from the foul line. UC Davis had 18 assists on 25 field goals but couldn't get many defensive stops in the second half.

Johnson's 32 points game on 11 of 17 shooting from the floor with a 9 of 15 effort from three. Bill Amis also had an efficient night for Hawai'i, scoring 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting to go along with five rebounds. Vander Joaquim added 14 points and seven rebounds in the win.

The Aggies had three players in double figures, led by Joe Harden's 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Mark Payne added 12 points and four assists, while Josh Ritchart chipped in with 11 points off the bench.

"They had a very good scheme in relationship to their spacing," said head coach Gary Stewart. "They did a good job of putting Zane in positions to score and he made shots. We didn't consistently double with strength. We got down there but we weren't as aggressive as we would have like to have been and we paid for that."

Hawai'i jumped out to a 15-3 lead, scoring 12 unanswered points capped off by an Amis finish at the rim. After trailing 23-13 UC Davis rattled off an 8-0 run, using back-to-back threes from Tyler Les to make the score 23-21 with 7:51 on the clock.

The Aggies had a 9-2 run towards the end of the half, taking the lead back with a 37-36 advantage at the one minute mark. Johnson finished the half with a layup at the buzzer, giving the Rainbow Warriors a 38-37 advantage at the break.

UC Davis had a brief lead to start the second half before Hawai'i went on top with a 10-0 run, including back-to-back threes from Johnson that made the score 39-48 with 16:48 on the clock.

The Rainbow Warriors had their lead up to 13 early in the second half, thanks to a Joaquim jumper in the paint. The Aggies chipped away at the lead over the next 10 minutes, getting as close as six before Hawai'i took back control. A Harden three-point play made the score 68-62 with UC Davis trailing at the 6:44 mark.

The Aggies were within striking distance in the final five minutes but the Rainbow Warriors had a 13-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game with a 83-66 lead and 1:11 to go. UC Davis scored three points in the last minute to make the final score 83-69.

"What makes defenses struggle are offensive players that are talented," said Stewart. "They spaced us out so we couldn't help off of one particular person. We couldn't get them stopped. With less than 10 minutes to play It was a two possession game. But it always felt like it was a larger deficit and we were continuing to climb up hill."

"Looking forward, the goal is to play very well against UC Irvine on Thursday," continued Stewart. "We can't get ahead of ourselves and play four games at once. But I like the way that we compete. We've got some tough guys in the locker room and they understand what is at stake."

UC Davis will get back to conference competition next week, playing two road games starting with UC Irvine on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.