Hawaii Dominates San Diego to Win First-Ever Acrisure Invitational Title

Acrisure Arena served up its inaugural Thanksgiving feast of college basketball this weekend, and the team holding the biggest part of the wishbone at the end was the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

Hawaii claimed the first Acrisure Invitational title Saturday, keeping University of San Diego at arm’s length in the championship game on the way to a 77-66 victory.

A smothering defense allowed Hawaii to open up a double-digit lead early in the second half and the Toreros never threatened after that.

Noel Coleman scored a game-high 26 points for Hawaii and was the easy choice for the game’s MVP. He made 11 of 18 shots including a pair of 3-pointers and was key in a separating 10-2 spurt for Hawaii that made the game a runaway, turning a 45-35 lead to 55-37. San Diego never got the deficit under double-digits the rest of the way.

No matter how big or small, there’s something special about a tournament win and the Rainbow Warriors celebrated at half-court as they received their trophy and took photos with it. It continues a perfect start to the season for Hawaii, which moves to 5-0, including Friday’s opening-round win over University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“It’s a great feeling and with this being the first time being on the road this year, for us to come together as one is something we were preaching before we left, and it was a big-time tournament win for us,” said Hawaii’s Juan Munoz who contributed two points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench in 11 minutes. “Neutral sites like this are a lot different and the atmosphere here tonight was good. We had a nice crowd and getting to play in front of people that haven’t seen us play before is cool, too.”

A crowd of 1,293 fans were on hand at Acrisure Arena and the game marked the culmination of three straight days of college basketball, starting with the high-profile Acrisure Classic game won by Arizona over Michigan State 74-68 on Thanksgiving Day. That game featured a crowd of more than 9,000.

Tournament organizers intend to broaden the scope of the Thanksgiving basketball buffet in 2024 as USC and San Diego State are already locked in to play as part of a two-day tournament on Thursday and Friday that week. Those games will follow a two-day women’s basketball tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hawaii coach Eran Ganot had nothing but positive things to say about his team’s trip to the Coachella Valley.

“It’s all about providing experiences for our guys and this was a terrific, first-class event in an awesome venue in an awesome area,” Ganot said. “And when I say experiences it can be on and off the court. Like I’ve never been to Palm Springs and I don’t think a lot of our guys have ever been to Palm Springs. We’ve enjoyed the area, and it was a really impressive facility.”

Ganot said tournament play and large arenas also come in handy in preparing his team for the types of atmosphere they hope to be playing in as the season progresses.

“Playing in a venue like this, this is what you’ll see in a conference tournament or the other tournaments we’re trying to get into,” Ganot said. “Neutral sites, seeing different teams with different styles and playing in a quick turnaround. All of those experiences are valuable moving forward.”

To go with Coleman’s 26 points, Justin McKoy sparked the team in the first half and finished with 17 points. Point guard Jovon McClanahan added 17 points of his own. McClanahan played great defense against San Diego leading scorer Wayne McKinney III all night, holding him to 15 points, but many of those came in the final minutes when the game had been decided.

Next up for Hawaii will be its toughest test of the early season as they travel to play Utah of the Pac-12 on Thursday in Salt Lake City.

San Diego, coached by former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, just didn’t find a lot of easy baskets or open looks all night and that was evidenced by their 38.3% field goal shooting and 4-of-15 effort from behind the arc. The credit for that goes to a stifling team defense played by the Rainbow Warriors.

San Diego, which falls to 5-2 on the season, was led by Deuce Turner who got hot in the second half to score 18 points. The Toreros will host Northern Colorado on Wednesday.

Third-place game

Arkansas State 75, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 58: Freddy Hicks led the way with 18 points, Izaiyah Nelson added 12 and Dyondre Dominguez had a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Red Wolves (2-4) who exploded out of the gate with a huge first half that saw them score 54 points. They finished with 12 3-pointers while UTRGV only made one on the night.

To UTRGV’s credit, the Vauqeros never quit in this game despite a horrendous start. They trailed 51-12 late in the first half, but outscored Arkansas State 46-24 from that point on. J.J. Howard led the way with 16 points, while Daylen Williams and Hasan Abdul-Hakim each added 11 for UTRGV (2-5).

Friday’s games

Hawaii 76, UTRGV 57: The 3-point-line told the story in this one as Hawaii made 11 of 24 from long distance, while the Vaqueros made just 1 of 12. The Rainbow Warriors were led by Matthue Cotton with 23 points including five 3-pointers. Noel Coleman added 17 points and Bernardo De Silva added 14. Justin McKoy had a game-high 14 rebounds. The Vaqueros were led by Elijah Elliott with 18 points and Ahren Freeman with eight points and 13 rebounds.

San Diego 71, Arkansas State 57: Deuce Turner came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points including 3 of 3 from 3-point range. It was part of a 37-point effort from the Toreros. San Diego had a balanced scoring attack with Wayne McKinney III and Dragos Lungu both notching 11 points in the win. Arkansas State was led by Dyondre Dominguez with 15 points and Freddy Hicks with 12. The Red Wolves struggled from deep, hitting just 4 of 24 from beyond the arc.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Hawaii tops San Diego to earn inaugural Acrisure Invitational crown