Hawaii men’s basketball team locks down Cal Poly for 1st Big West win

HONOLULU — The Hawaii men’s basketball team defeated Cal Poly 68-55 to avoid its first 0-3 start to Big West play while handing the Mustangs their 42^nd straight BWC regular-season defeat stretching across three seasons.

A Saturday night crowd of 3,328 (4,763 tickets issued) watched as the Rainbow Warriors’ superior size helped dictate a plodding pace against the No. 1 team in the country in quickest shots per possession.

UH (9-5, 1-2 Big West) got 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists from forward Gytis Nemeiksa and 15 points from guard Tom Beattie. Center Tanner Christensen supplied 11 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

Cal Poly (6-10, 0-4) came in averaging 84.3 points per game under first-year coach Mike DeGeorge, a former coach at Division II Colorado Mesa. The Mustangs were held to a season-low total nearly 30 below their average; they’d scored at least 80 in five straight contests, including a 98-89 loss to UC Irvine on Thursday.

Cal Poly was held to 33.8% shooting, including 22.6% (7-for-31) on 3-pointers. UH converted 45.1% of its attempts.

UH came out of an offensively challenged first half leading by five points and turned on the jets with a 15-2 run coming out of the break against the tired Mustangs, who played an overtime game in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on the Central Coast of California on Thursday night.

The Mustangs missed their first nine shots of the game and converted 25% shooting in the first half as UH led 27-22 at intermission. Beattie scored nine on 4-for-5 shooting in the period.

Freshman guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor hit the first 3-pointer of the season in the second half.

The game was attended by new UH President Wendy Hensel, who succeeded David Lassner on Jan. 1.

Note: This story will be updated.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.