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Turning its offense inside-out, the Hawaii basketball team drained a season-high 15 3-point shots in Tuesday night's 67-63 victory over Hawaii Pacific at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 1,816 saw the Rainbow Warriors break out of a deep-shooting slump to improve to 5-1. The outcome does not count in the standings for the Division II Sharks.
Kody Williams, a 6-foot guard with a vertical jump of 47 1/2 inches, soared to new heights to set single-game highs with 24 points and seven 3s. He also hit two key free throws with 17.8 seconds to play.
Williams, a third-year 'Bow who was placed on scholarship last month, had worked extensively on his outside shooting during the offseason.
"I credit my preparation to the staff, to everybody who's helped me develop my shot over the last three years," said Williams, who hit his first six 3s and finished 7-for-8 from behind the arc. "That's something we really tried to hone in on coming in. I was a big defensive player my first two years. This year, I had to adopt a bigger role. I had to expand my offensive game. I put in the work. This whole season, my 3-point shot has felt comfortable. Some nights it didn't go. I'm always going to let it fly, and tonight I was hitting."
Williams' confidence was evident on a one-man fast break when he pulled up and drained a 3 from the top of the key.
"Again, credit my teammates for putting me in a position to make those 3s," Williams said. "They were drawing defenders, then kicking out, and I was able to hit open shots. Credit to them. And credit to HPU. They came and brought it and fought to the buzzer."
Marcus Greene hit two free throws to extend the 'Bows' lead to 64-61 with 29.4 seconds to play.
The Sharks worked the ball to the left side, where Charlie Weber tried to throw a lead pass to Sherman Brashear. But Brashear was not able to break cleanly to the corner, and the ball sailed out of bounds. Williams was fouled, and his two free throws gave the 'Bows a five-point cushion.
Jonas Visser's layup with 5.7 seconds to go cut the deficit to 66-63. But Tanner Christensen caught Ryan Rapp's long inbounds pass, was fouled, and sank one of two free throws to end the suspense.
The Sharks attacked from the tip-off, scoring 14 of the game's first 19 points, then used a 13-0 run to go ahead 34-25 with 2:39 remaining in the first half. The Sharks used aggressive half-court defense, including a 2-3 zone, to clutter the lane. They also dropped a second defender to create a tag team on the 6-foot-10 Christensen, who had two points on 1-for-2 shooting in the first half.
"We're top 50 in the country in 2-point percentage," associate head coach Brad Davidson said of the Warriors' 59.9% accuracy inside the arc. "Tonight we couldn't make a 2-point shot. I kept going, 'good shot, good shot,' but we just missed all those around the basket, which we had been elite at."
The 'Bows entered hitting 29.4% of their 3s. But they were 8-for-16 on 3s in the first half and 7-for-15 after the intermission. Williams buried four 3s in the second half. Rapp, fully recovered from an injury to his left hand, made three 3s in a row to give the Warriors a 16-14 lead.
"Our 3-point shooting was below what we'd expect so far, and our 2-point (accuracy) has been up," Davidson said. "Tonight it was completely flipped."