Jack Purchase scored a game-high 17 points and Gibson Johnson added 10 points this morning to help Hawai’i roll past Southern Mississippi, 60-46, for seventh place in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
A sparse Christmas Day crowd of about 1,800 and national TV audience on ESPNU watched the Warriors snap a four-game losing streak to improve to 5-7. Southern Miss fell to 3-8.
Leland Green’s 3-point basket from the left corner with 9:06 remaining in the first half broke a 17-17 tie and the Warriors eventually led, 32-22, at halftime.
The Golden Eagles could not get closer than nine points in the second half.