Hawaii opens Classic with 85-55 win over Tenn St

Nov 9, 2013, 02:01 am

HONOLULU -- Christian Standhardinger and Isaac Fotu picked up where they left off a year ago, leading Hawaii to an easy 85-55 win over Tennessee State to open the 49th Rainbow Classic tournament Friday night.

Standhardinger, a first-team All-Big West pick a year ago, tossed in 20 points and a dozen rebounds. Fotu, last year's conference Freshman of the Year, added 16 points and eight boards. Junior college transfer Garrett Nevels had 13 points in his Hawaii debut.

Hawaii held a decided advantage on the boards, out-rebounding the Tigers 47-28, and had 20 more free throw attempts.

Patrick Miller and M.J. Rhett led the Tigers with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Rhett also had 12 rebounds.

Tennessee State tied the game at 7-7, but Hawaii ran off nine straight points and never looked back, taking a 41-20 halftime lead.

The Warriors won the last two editions of the four-team, round-robin tournament.