UH-Hilo/UH-Manoa watch, Jan. 5

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Home games in caps; all times HST

Home games in caps; all times HST

UH-Hilo

BASKETBALL

MEN

Tuesday

Azusa Pacific 81, UH-Hilo 87

The skinny: Parker Farris finished with 19 points, including 16 in the second half, but he needed three more. The senior’s bid at a game-winner was blocked, and UH-Hilo fell to .500 in conference play

Saturday

CONCORDIA, 7:30 p.m. at Hilo Civic

WOMEN

Tuesday

Azusa Pacific 66, UH-Hilo 65

The skinny: Azusa Pacific finished the game on a 18-6 run to deny the Vulcans’ upset bid. …

Freshman and Hilo grad Sharlei Graham-Bernisto finished with a career-high 13 points for UH-Hilo to back Kim Schmelz’s 21.

Saturday

CONCORDIA, 5 p.m. at Hilo Civic

PacWest standings

Men

Conf Overall

Dixie State 5-1 8-4

California Baptist 4-1 12-1

Hawai’i Pacific 4-1 12-1

Chaminade 5-2 9-5

Academy of Art 2-1 3-6

Concordia 3-2 7-6

Azusa Pacific 3-2 8-7

Point Loma 3-3 7-6

Hawaii Hilo 3-3 5-7

Dominican 3-3 4-8

N.D. de Namur 1-4 3-8

Fresno Pacific 1-4 1-11

BYU-Hawaii 1-5 3-9

Holy Names 0-6 1-12

Women

Conf Overall

California Baptist 5-0 14-2

Academy of Art 3-0 7-4

Point Loma 5-1 11-2

N.D. de Namur 4-1 6-6

Azusa Pacific 4-1 6-7

Hawaii Pacific 3-1 6-3

BYU-Hawaii 3-2 6-5

Concordia 3-2 5-6

Dominican 3-3 7-6

Hawaii Hilo 1-5 1-8

Dixie State 1-5 1-11

Holy Names 1-5 1-11

Chaminade 1-6 1-10

Fresno Pacific 0-5 3-10

UH-Manoa

BASKETBALL

Men

Thursday

at Cal State Fullerton, 5 p.m.

Jan. 7

At UC Irvine, 5:30 p.m.

The skinny: In a battle of 6-7 teams Thursday, the Rainbow Warriors start defense of their Big West championship with their first road game of the season, through just three players – Sheriff Drammeh, Brocke Stepteau, and Zach Buscher – were active members of last year’s NCAA tournament team. …

Fullerton has won three of four and is led by the backcourt of Tre’ Coggins (20.4 points prt game) and Khalil Ahmad (16.5 ppg). …

UH is tops in the Big West and 43rd in the nation in scoring defense (64.5) and also leads the conference in turnovers forced (14.8). …

Sophomore forward Jack Purchase has been the team’s leading scorer in the last three games, averaging 17.0 points, and Noah Allen (11.8) and Gibson Johnson (10.8) are just ahead of Purchase’s 10.7 average on the season.

The ‘Bows have never lost to the Titans in Big West play (9-0).

Women

Thursday

at Long Beach State, 5 p.m.

The skinny: The Wahine (4-8) have won seven in a row against the 49ers (9-6), who are the preseason Big West favorites.

UH is winless in five road games, and this could be its toughest trip of the season – Cal Davis leads the league at 9-4. …

Junior Sarah Toeaina leads the team in scoring with 11.2 points per game, while senior Briana Harris adds 10.7 points off the bench for the Rainbow Wahine. Freshman Makenna Woodfolk is Hawaiis leading rebounder and the Big West Conference’s top freshman rebounder, averaging 7.0 boards per game. …

Hawaii shoots 34.8 percent from the field but holds opponents to just 63.9 points per game on 37.4 percent shooting from the field and 28.2 percent from 3-point range. …

Madison Montgomery leads the 49ers scoring with 10.6 points per game, and is the only Long Beach player to average double figures in scoring, but the team is balanced – Jewelyn Sawyer adds 9.3 points per game, add is followed by Raven Benton 9.2 ppg, and Gigi Hascheff 9.0. …

The 49ers force opponents into more than 21 turnovers per game, and own a plus-6.7 turnover margin.

Saturday

At Cal Davis, 12:30 p.m.

MENS VOLLEYBALL

Outrigger Volleyball Invitational

At Honolulu

Thursday

Princeton vs. Ball State, 4 p.m.

Hawaii vs. Erskine, 7 p.m.

Friday

Erskine vs. Ball State, 4 p.m.

Hawaii vs. Princeton, 7 p.m.

TV: OCSports

Saturday

Princeton vs. Erskine, 4 p.m.

Hawaii vs. Ball State, 7 p.m.

TV: OCSports

The skinny: With five returning starters, Hawaii opens the season, its final one in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, ranked No. 7. …

With the loss of All-American Kolby Kanetake at libero, several players are competing for the job, including Waiakea graduates Mamane Namahoe and newcomer Evan LaRochelle., as well as was USC transfer Larry Tuileta, one of the nation’s top high school players at Punahou in 2014. Among the returnees Namahoe saw the most action, making one start last season. …

Among the player who made preseason watch lists are:

Lloy Ball Award (Best Setter): Jennings Franciskovic, Joe Worsley

Bryan Ivie Award (Best Opposite): Stijn van Tilburg

Karch Kiraly Award (Best Outside Hitter): Kupono Fey. …

In the AVCA poll, Ohio State was voted No. 1 followed by UCLA, BYU, Long Beach State, Pepperdine, Lewis, UH, UC Irvine, Stanford and George Mason. …

BYU was also No. 1 in the MPSF poll followed by UCLA, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, UH, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, CSUN, USC, Cal Baptist, and UC San Diego.

Editor’s note: University releases contributed to this report.