UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I
GAME WRAP-UPS

# 14 Negus Webster-Chan (Scarborough ON)

# 33 Stefan Jankovic (Mississauga ON)

December 29, 2014

Southern University @ University of Hawai'i – [HONOLULU]  Southern University, from Baton Rouge Louisiana, was in Honolulu to take on the University of Hawai'i on Monday night.  For Hawai'i it was the first game since they had played some very tough, emotional, games in the Diamond Head Classic... so the question of the day was 'Would there be a DHC hangover?'

As far as a DHC hangover?  Well I'd say there was one.  The Rainbow Warriors seemed to have heavy shoes as they were a little slow starting the game and the Southern Jaguars made use of that and were really taking it to the Warriors.  The aggression by the Jags seemed to catch the Warriors by surprise.  It took quite a while for the Warriors to shake out the cobwebs but as the game progressed they got stronger and stronger until you could see they were in total control of the game.

The slow start showed in the half-time stats as the Warriors had 13 turnovers they tried to overcompensate and times were over-passing the ball and trying to get a little too fancy.

In the last five minutes of the 1st half the Warriors had their defence in full gear as Benjy Taylor were playing their 'twin towers' of Stefan Jankovic and Stefan Jovanovic (both 6' 11") at the bottom of a 3-2 zone defence and Southern was having a nightmare as they weren't getting anything from the outside and they could not penetrate if their life depended on it.

The half-time score was 31-23 and that difference was purely at the foul-line as UH was 9-11 while Southern was a woeful 1-6.

The 2nd half was a slow start as both the Stef's were on the bench and the Hawai'i offense was stagnant.

Coach Taylor put in the Stef's and it was a different game as Stef's destroyed any penetration hopes Southern had and having a 6' 11" on each side of the hoop did wonders for the rebounding.

Hawai'i then went to a full court hard 1-2-2 press with Stefan Jankovic at the front and Southern had a horrible time trying to get the ball up the court.

With just over 10 to go in the game the Stef's were pulled an Southern was able to put some shots together to try to close that gap - but it was too little to late as Hawai'i was cruising and Coach Taylor was getting his bench into the game.

Hawai'i was able to ride their lead to a 71-57 victory.

The Warriors got all 12 of their players into the game and 10 of those 12 found the scoresheet.

Hawai'i's next action is Tuesday December 30 as they welcome Prairie View A & M in from Prairie View, Texas.