Field Level Media
Dec 24, 2019
Isaiah Stewart led No. 21 Washington into the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic with 26 points and 13 rebounds in a 72-61 win over Hawaii on Monday night at Honolulu.
The Huskies (10-2) will play Houston (9-3) in the title game Wednesday.
Hawaii (8-4) has yet to advance to the title game in the 11-year history of the tournament. The Rainbow Warriors will face Georgia Tech (5-6) in the third-place game.
Nahziah Carter finished with 10 points, and Jaden McDaniels added nine points and 13 rebounds for the Huskies.
Hawaii's Zigmars Raimo had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and freshman Justin Webster finished with a career-high 16 points off the bench. Leading scorer Eddie Stansberry, who was averaging 18.5 points a game, had only five points, shooting 1 of 17, all from 3-point range. The 17 3-point attempts were a school record.
The turning point in the game was when Washington closed the first half outscoring Hawaii 20-7 in the last 7:34 to open a 37-22 halftime lead.
The Rainbow Warriors had difficulty against Washington's 2-3 zone defense from the start, shooting only 22.6 percent from the field in the first half, including a 1-of-14 performance from 3-point range. Hawaii finished shooting 28.4 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from 3-point range.
Stansberry missed all nine of his shots from beyond the arc in the first half. He had made 41.1 percent from that distance entering the game.
Stewart had 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting and five rebounds to lead the Huskies at the half.
The Rainbows committed 11 turnovers in the first half that resulted in 11 points for Washington.
Hawaii's 8-0 run, including Stansberry's lone 3-pointer, to start the second half cut Washington's lead to 37-30 with 17:30 left in regulation. The Huskies answered breaking down Hawaii's defense with Stewart and Carter scoring in transition to increase the lead to 47-35 with 13:05 left.
The Rainbow Warriors rallied back to cut the deficit to six points three times, but Washington answered every surge.
--Field Level Media