ANAHEIM, Calif. — Roderick Bobbitt scored 14 points and fifth-seeded Hawaii upset top-seeded UC Davis 65-58 on Friday night to advance to the championship game of the Big West Tournament.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Roderick Bobbitt scored 14 points and fifth-seeded Hawaii upset top-seeded UC Davis 65-58 on Friday night to advance to the championship game of the Big West Tournament.
Isaac Fleming had 13 points and Aaron Valdes added 12 for the Rainbow Warriors (22-12), who never trailed and will meet the winner of the late semifinal between No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara Gauchos and No. 3 seed UC Irvine.
Corey Hawkins scored 22 points for UC Davis (26-5), which had won its previous four games.
Trailing 54-44 after a 3-pointer by Negus Webster-Chan with 4:49 remaining, UC Davis got back into the game with back-to-back 3s by Hawkins, 40 seconds apart, and another one by Josh Ritchart. that narrowed the gap to 56-54 with 2:35 to play. Josh Fox tied it 37 seconds later with a pair of free throws, but missed two more with 1:18 left and Hawaii ahead by two.
Hawaii closed it out by making 9 of 10 free throws in the final 1:40 after making its last field goal with 4:05 remaining.
UC Davis trailed by as many as 13 points nearing the midway mark of the first half before Avery Johnson’s three-point play pulled them into a 32-all tie with 15:38 left. But the Aggies went 4 minutes before making their next field goal.
Fox, the conference’s sixth man of the year, threw in a putback dunk after a missed layup by Hawkins, getting UC Davis within a point again with 11 minutes remaining.
Hawaii opened the game on an 11-2 run while UC Davis missed seven of its first eight shots. The Rainbow Warriors connected on five rainbows from 3-point range during a 6:05 span to build a 22-9 lead with 10:53 left in the first half. But Hawkins, the Big West Player of the Year, responded with nine points during a 2:02 stretch and the Aggies held Hawaii without a field goal over the final 6:44.
TIP-INS
UC Davis: The Aggies, who are the No. 1 seed in the tournament for the first time, split their other two meetings against Hawaii — losing 84-76 on the road and winning 74-67 at home. In that one, Tyler Les set career highs with 28 points and nine 3-point field goals. Les had three points in the rematch and was 1 for 4 behind the arc in 22 minutes. … Corey Hawkins and his father, Hersey, are the NCAA’s second-all-time leading father and son duo with 4,668 points. Dell Curry and son Stephen top that list with 5,020. … The Aggies, who entered this tournament fourth in the nation with a 3-point field goal percentage of 49.5, finished 7 for 17 in that department. … The No. 1 seed has failed to win the Big West Tournament in three of the previous four years.
Hawaii: Roderick Bobbitt, the Big West defensive player of the year, will need one steal in the title game Saturday to become the fourth player in conference history with at least 100 in a season. … The Rainbow Warriors have won three straight games against conference opponents for the first time this season. … Hawaii’s all-time record against UC Davis is 6-3. … Hawaii’s women’s squad beat Cal State Fullerton 73-64 in their semifinal game, so they’ll meet Cal State Northridge for the conference championship on Saturday.
WOMEN
HAWAII 73, CAL STATE FULLERTON 64
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shawna-Lei Kuehu scored 18 points, including 12 in the second half, and top-seeded Hawaii beat seventh-seeded Cal State Fullerton 73-64 on Friday to advance to the Big West Conference tournament championship game.
Saturday, the Rainbow Wahine (23-7) will take a 15-game winning streak into the conference finale against No. 2 seed Cal State Northridge.
Destiny King added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Marissa Wimbley scored 12 points for Hawaii. Hawaii got 31 points from its bench, led by Kuehu, who was 5 of 9 from the floor and was 8 of 11 from the free-throw line.
Hawaii took a 15-point lead, its largest, with 12:30 in the first half and was up by seven at halftime. The Titans rallied to take a 43-40 lead with 14:07 left in the game. King made a 3-pointer to tie and Kuehu followed with a basket. The Rainbow Wahine never trailed again and led by as many as 11 points after that.
Chante Miles led the Titans with 16 points. Samantha Logan added 15, Tailer Butler 14 and Kathleen Iwuoha grabbed 10 rebounds.