If you keep wishing – and playing – hard enough, Christmas wishes do come true. The University of Hawai’i basketball team can now attest to that.
After 13 years of wishing for a Christmas Day championship of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, the Rainbow Warriors finally got it, beating SMU, 58-57, in one of the most dramatic finishes in recent program history.
JoVon McClanahan hit a running 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining to give Hawai’i its first ever Diamond Head Classic championship. The title game of the three-day, eight-team tournament was played before a SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,331 that provided a frenzied ovation for several minutes after the historic win.