Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
For the second straight year, Hawaii has a chance to capture a pair of Big West Conference tournament championships and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament — for both of its teams.
The top-seeded UH men blitzed No. 4 UC Santa Barbara 88-76 in the Big West tournament semifinals Friday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Last season, the Rainbow Warriors lost to UC Irvine 67-58 in the championship and didn’t play in any postseason game.
UH’s last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2002, under former coach Riley Wallace. Hawaii lost to Xavier 70-58 in the first round.
Like the day before the Rainbow Warriors came out red hot in the second half, going on a 24-3 run to break the game open against the Gauchos.
Forward Stefan Jankovic scored 24 points, point guard Roderick Bobbitt added 21 and Aaron Valdes had 19, going a combined 21 of 38 from the field, to lead UH (26-5).
Michael Bryson scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Gauchos (18-13), who had their nine-game winning streak snapped.
UH beat UC Santa Barbara all three times this season.
The Rainbows shot 52 percent from the field and made 27 of 37 free throws.
The championship will be televised at 6:30 p.m. today on ESPN 2, channel 21.
Women
Hawaii 76, Long Beach State 60: Marissa Wimbley scored a career-high 18 points and buried 6 of 9 from 3-point range, tying a school record, in the semifinals.
The Rainbow Wahine (20-10) advanced to the conference championship for the second straight year.
Last season, they lost to Cal State Northridge 67-60 in the finale and played in the WNIT and lost to St. Mary’s 92-88.
UH’s last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 1998, under former coach Vince Goo. The Wahine lost 76-70 to Arkansas in the first round.
UH sank a season-high 12 3-pointers and outrebounded The Beach 41-17.
The No. 2 seed Rainbow Wahine play No. 4 UC Davis (19-12) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Aggies upset No. 1 UC Riverside 81-72 in the first semifinal.
On Friday, Ashleigh Karaitiana added 13 points while Megan Huff and Sarah Toeaina had 12 apiece for the Wahine.
Raven Bento scored 27 points on 10 of 20 shooting to lead The Beach.