Hawai’i wears down Weber State in physical overtime win

HONOLULU – Grown-man ball. 

The University of Hawai’i (4-0) kept a perfect start to the season intact Sunday night, using graduate center Tanner Christensen’s 25 points and some airtight second-half defense to work past Weber State (1-3) in overtime, 73-68. The Rainbow Warriors held the Wildcats to nine total made field goals in the second half and overtime periods, allowing just 29 percent shooting by the visitors after the midway break. 

Harry Rouhliadeff sparked a second half comeback for Hawai’i, scoring 11 of his 12 points after halftime and adding another strong defensive presence down low as Christensen dealt with foul woes down the stretch. Gytis Nemeikša added 10 points and a team-best eight rebounds and two blocks off the bench for Hawai’i, who opened the season winning the first four games for the second straight year. 

“[Tonight] was a game that tested us, obviously,” UH head coach Eran Ganot said after the win over Weber State. “[A test] that we did not pass very well early, but at the most critical time, we did.” 

The Rainbow Warriors jumped out to an early 9-5 lead, seeing Marcus Greene make an immediate impact as he drilled a three-pointer less than three minutes into the action. The senior guard slid into the starting lineup for sophomore Akira Jacobs, who missed his first game of the season dealing with a right foot injury. 

Weber State found better offensive footing following the night’s first media timeout, scoring 21 points over the next 12 minutes while shutting down drives to the paint from UH guards looking to score. Christensen shouldered the offensive load for an otherwise ice-cold Hawai’i, scoring 16 straight points for the hosts to keep the game within a single tally, 26-25, with 4:58 left in the opening half. 

After Christensen left the floor following a pair of makes from the charity stripe with under five minutes until the break, the Wildcats took advantage, building back up the lead with a three-point play by Blaise Threatt and a triple from Viljami Vartiainen coming in back-to-back possessions. Christensen re-entered and stopped the WSU momentum with a putback to close the half with Hawai’i down a few possessions, 38-31. 

It was the third straight game Hawai’i entered the intermission trailing, seeing significant troubles defensively manifest into allowing Weber State to shoot 58.6 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes of action. While six different Wildcats had recorded multiple made field goals in the first half, Christensen was the only Rainbow Warrior to achieve that same feat as he scored 20 of the 31 points for UH on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting. 

The offense continued to struggle immediately out of halftime, making one of four shots and turning the ball over four times in the opening five minutes out of the break. Following the timeout with 15:43 left in regulation, Hawai’i began to wake up again as Christensen got another bucket and forced a steal that led to a Greene layup to pull with six. 

Harry Rouhliadeff sparked the Hawai’i crowd with 12:20 left to play as he drilled the Rainbow Warriors’ second three-point make of the night and first since the opening minutes before dropping off a nice pass to a cutting Nemeikša to pull UH within a bucket, 45-42. 

“Everybody will ask where did [the comeback] start from and it started with Harry,” said Ganot of the junior forward’s impact. “He stood guys up [defensively] when they were trying to back him down, he blocked out, he rebounded, he played tough and it got the rest of the guys [going].” 

Kody Williams extended the momentum swing, pulling Hawai’i within a basket with a pair of free throws before giving UH its first lead since the 14-minute mark of the first half by drilling a three-pointer with 6:37 to play in regulation. 

The Wildcats and Rainbow Warriors continued a wild back-and-forth down the stretch, trading the lead five times before Christensen tied the game with a clutch finish through contact with six seconds to play. The defense held for UH, seeing Threatt’s runner bounced off the backboard as Hawai’i headed to overtime for the first time in the 2024-25 season. 

“Our identity was forged in the second half – or re-discovered,” Ganot said. “We defend and rebound, and we did not in the first half and that makes it tough to weather some really ugly offensive play at times … Second half, [Weber State] shot 24 percent from the field, zero percent from three, we won the boards by nine, we won the winning plays in the second when we didn’t in the first half and that was why we won.”

Rouhliadeff gave the Rainbow Warriors the first lead of the extra period, splitting a pair of free throws on the first possession for UH. Weber State guard Miguel Tomley came back and drilled his only three-pointer of the night to give the Wildcats their only lead of the overtime session with four and a half minutes to play. 

Senior captain Ryan Rapp, who made his season debut after he missed the first three games of the year with a hand injury, tied the game at 60 on the next possession as Hawai’i continued fighting. The battle got slightly tougher on the next play as Christensen was whistled for his fifth foul with 3:36 left, sending Hawai’i’s most reliable scoring option to the bench for the remainder of the night. 

Again, it was Rouhliadeff providing the lift as he gave Hawai’i the lead for good with a pair of swishes from the free throw line with just over three minutes to play. The 6-foot-9 junior came up with a big block on the other end before Nemeikša finished off a quick dish from Rapp to make it a four-point game. 

The Rainbow Warriors got the needed breathing room to close out the win with another stop and three makes from the free throw line, seeing Weber State head coach Eric Duft assessed a technical foul after Nemeikša drew a foul with under two minutes left. The cushion proved to be enough as Hawai’i held on, 73-68. 

Weber State guard Blaise Threatt led all scorers with 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting, adding nine rebounds in a losing effort for the Wildcats. The visitors, selected to finish third in the Big Sky preseason poll, were whistled for 28 fouls throughout the night and saw both starting center Alex Tew and backup center Vasilije Vucinic foul out by the overtime period. 

Tom Beattie added 10 points, grabbed six rebounds and had four assists in the win for Hawai’i, knocking down 8-of-10 attempts from the foul line. The Rainbow Warriors went 26-for-40 as a team from the charity stripe, drawing 29 fouls against the Wildcats. 

Hawai’i now sets sights on the marquee matchup of its non-conference schedule, preparing to host No. 10 North Carolina on Friday, Nov. 22 with tip-off at 7:30 p.m. at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors have never beaten the Tar Heels and last met in November of 2016, seeing Hawai’i fall 83-68 to the eventual national champions.