SPOKANE, Wash. — The Hawaii guards had been harassing Maryland guard Melo Trimble all game long, pressing him, bumping him, chasing him. The Rainbow Warriors had set the tone with their aggressive play, getting in the Terrapins’ faces, trying to
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Hawaii guards had been harassing Maryland guard Melo Trimble all game long, pressing him, bumping him, chasing him. The Rainbow Warriors had set the tone with their aggressive play, getting in the Terrapins’ faces, trying to intimidate the higher seed, and it seemed to be working, as Maryland missed its first 15 3-point attempts.
The score was tied midway through the second half when Maryland established its authority on three consecutive plays. Diamond Stone broke free for an alley-oop dunk, Jake Layman raced open for a fast-break dunk, and Trimble finally found himself alone at the top of the key. He drilled a 3-pointer, the Terrapins’ first of the game, and smiled in relief.
“Once that shot went down,” Rasheed Sulaimon said, “then got everybody loose.”
No. 5-seeded Maryland, which had trouble this season with spunky teams, held off 13th-seeded Hawaii, 73-60, to advance to the Sweet 16. The Terrapins built their confidence a bit, which will help because their next game is against Kansas, the tournament’s top overall seed.
“That stretch in the second half was a big hammer,” Hawaii coach Eran Ganot said of Maryland’s run.
After the Terrapins narrowly escaped against South Dakota State in the first round, they acknowledged that at points this season, they had been guilty of being overconfident and not taking some opponents seriously. Ranked No. 3 in the preseason polls and armed with several NBA prospects, Maryland had a relatively disappointing season because, as Layman put it, they “got caught up in where we were and thinking that we should beat everybody by 20.”
Hawaii, coming off a convincing upset over No. 4-seeded California, grabbed Maryland’s attention early, pressing its guards full-court. Trimble looked exasperated each time he had to shake a defender simply to receive an inbounds pass. Disrupting the Terrapins’ rhythm affected their shooting, especially from 3-point range.
That only egged on the Rainbow Warriors’ cheering section. Their fans waved ti leaves for good luck, shouted chants that echoed throughout the arena and brandished the state flag. One fan’s sign read, “Cinderella wears,” with a pair of flip-flops attached.
“I’m very proud of our program,” said Ganot, who led Hawaii to a team record for victories in his first season as head coach. “They galvanized the state.”
For a while, Hawaii hung with Maryland, on that pure aggressiveness, even though Maryland was the taller and more athletic team. Mike Thomas, a 6-foot-7 Hawaii forward, got creative finding holes making several layups around the Terrapins’ frontcourt which featured three players 6 feet 9 or taller. Thomas finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
“We were nervous,” said Maryland coach Mark Turgeon, whose team led by only 1 at halftime.
Hawaii went on a 10-4 run to take a 39-36 lead. Then the bottom fell out.
Trimble, though, had learned to counter by embracing Hawaii’s pressure, drawing the attention of extra defenders and dishing the ball to Diamond Stone, the talented freshman forward. Stone slipped free for dunks, hit a smooth jump hook and made a reverse layup with his offhand. Once he started establishing himself, Trimble found more space to work.
Trimble kept attacking the paint, and it usually resulted in either a layup or a trip to the free-throw line. When the Terrapins went on that 7-point run midway through the second quarter, they were following Trimble’s lead. Maryland relaxed, and a few minutes later, when Robert Carter converted a 3-point play, extending the lead to 12, Trimble did a dance.
“I might have to give him some pointers on how to dance, too,” Sulaimon said. “That was atrocious to watch.”
Hawaii eventually looked tired, trying to out-hustle Maryland’s athleticism. The Rainbow Warriors shot 33 percent from the field, including only 21 percent from 3-point range. Stefan Jankovic, the sweet-shooting Big West conference Player of the Year, missed 12 of his 17 shots.
“We didn’t make the shots we are supposed to make,” Jankovic said. “We missed a lot of layups.”
Maryland had a big advantage in free throws, making 28 of 31. Hawaii made 10 of 15.
“We didn’t get to the line as much as we like,” Ganot said. “That’s on us.”
As a last-ditch effort, trailing by 10 with about four minutes remaining, Hawaii deployed a more urgent full-court press. Trimble and Sulaimon, the senior guard, handled the ball mostly from then on, and they combined to make all 10 of their free throws down the stretch.
Trimble finished with 24 points and made 13 of his 14 free-throw attempts.
This season has been an unexpected success for Hawaii under first-year coach Eran Ganot. In December, the NCAA slapped his program with sanctions for infractions committed under former coach Gib Arnold. The penalties include a 2016-17 postseason ban, scholarship reductions and players being allowed to transfer without having to sit out a year.
Instead of crumbling, the Warriors won the Big West Conference. They set a school record for victories in a season by beating California 77-66 in the first round of the tournament, their first win after four losses in the NCAAs.
