It was a nice win for the Bows last night. Not perfect by any means, but a victory nevertheless.  In the first half,  Hawaii played about as well as it has all season. Fresno helped a little bit by foolishly playing zone defense which allowed the Bows to hit 7 of 11 three point attempts ( four by Barnes whose outside shooting had been missing in action for weeks).  The offense looked crisp, and Hawaii's defense held Fresno to 21 first half points. Again, Fresno helped by trying to shoot three pointers instead of looking inside. When you shoot 27 percent from three, and you have a dominant big-man like Greg Smith in the post, you have to question Fresno's offensive strategy.

But once again, the second half was a different story. It seems that game after game, Hawaii comes out of the half-time locker room flat, and the opponent has made second half adjustments that create real problems for the Bows. Last night was no exception, as Fresno played an aggressive man defense that did not allow Hawaii a second half three, and pounded the ball inside for scores. The good news last night, however, was that Hawaii had a 20 point half-time lead and managed to withstand Fresno's second half charge.

With the win, Hawaii goes two games up on La Tech and one up on Saturday night's opponent, San Jose State, who did not play last night. The big question going into that game is will the Spartans best player, Adrian Oliver be able to play as he is coming off of a concussion that has kept him out of the Spartans last two games.

Kudos to several Bow players including Vander Joaquim who clearly outplayed Greg Smith, last year's WAC Freshmen of the Year, and Miah, whose overall play  excited the crowd and helped Hawaii to its large first half lead. ( query, however, the future role of former starting guard, Bobby Miles, who never got off the bench last night).