Hawai’i routs Cal State Fullerton in Big West quarterfinal, 75-44
The first step is complete. The University of Hawai’i went on a stunning second half surge to defeat Cal State Fullerton, 75-44, in a quarterfinal game of the Big West Conference Tournament at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday afternoon.
Aaron Valdes scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead a balanced Hawai’i attack. Roderick Bobbitt added 14 points, Mike Thomas had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Stefan Jankovic added 12 points for the Warriors.
Hawai’i, which improved to 25-5 with its third win over the Titans this season, advances to Friday’s semifinals against a yet-to-be-determined opponent (teams are re-seeded for the semifinals). Hawai’i’s semifinal game will be at 4:30 p.m. (Hawai’i time) regardless of the opponent.
Based on the final score, it would seem hard to believe that Hawai’i actually trailed in the second half against the Titans. Fullerton had a one-point lead early in the second half before the Warriors ran away.
Hawai’i opened the game with a 6-2 lead, and stayed in front the rest of the first half. The Warriors led by as many as eight points several times in the first half, but the Titans went on a 9-2 surge at the end of the half to cut the Hawai’i lead to 27-26 at intermission.
Bobbitt had eight points in the first half on 3-of-5 shooting, but the Warriors shot just 39.3 percent (11 for 28) from the field before halftime. The Titans were worse, shooting 34.4 percent (11 for 32) from the field.
The Titans took a 28-27 lead in the opening seconds of the second half on two free throws by Khalil Ahmad. Jankovic was assessed his third foul on the play, and went to the bench.
Hawai’i responded a few minutes later with a 9-0 surge to take a 38-30 lead with 14:45 remaining.
The Warriors took control for good with a stunning 19-1 run that increased their lead to 57-33 with 10:06 remaining.
The Titans never got closer than 20 the rest of the way. Fullerton’s leading scorer, Tre’ Coggins, was held scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting.
UC Santa Barbara beat UC Davis, 87-61, in the first quarterfinal game.
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
One down, two to go. Let’s GO BOWS!
Mike Thomas 12 points and 12 rebounds! Wow! Jovanovic was key too!
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!
Glad to see The Bowz woke up in the 2nd half.
The Gauchos, with a 9 game winning streak, are really moving that ball around. IF we play them, that will be THE GAME.
Awesome game, MISTER THOMAS.
Glad to see our guys got some rest.
GO BOWZ
Work on your free throws team. Good job for the most part staying out of foul trouble. Thomas, only 1 foul. Defense, steals, and rebounding were big keys too. 3 pointers were huge also. Terrific 2nd half.
Glad to see that Ganot made the adjustments in the 2nd half. Too many three point attempts were taken in the first half; big difference in the 2nd half playing tough defense and working the ball inside and outside for better shots. Great balance in scoring and a solid game for Bobbitt and Mike Thomas. Jovanovich also contributed well when Janks had to sit on the bench with his third foul. Next game will be a lot tougher.
Go Bows!
Defense, rebounding, Thomas and Jovanovich helped blow the game open after they trailed by one. Thomas had 0 rebounds in the loss to Long Beach State. You think he got the message? Double-double; he was aggressive and yet stayed out of foul trouble. Awesome job, big guy.
Did everyone catch Quincy’s block/rebound on a layup attempt? He basically soared above the Titan player, pinned the ball against the backboard and pulled it down in one motion. Whoa!
Clyde- yes that was awesome by Q!! Block and a steal 😉
Way to take care of business in the 2nd half with that Hawaii swagger!!
Great momentum going in the 2nd game!
Cheeehoooo! Way to play team ball in that second half and limiting the turnovers! We’ll see how the rest of the day turns out, hoping for them upsets, march madness baby!
Good turnout as well, let’s go ‘Bows!
Awesome win boys! When Mike Thomas can stay in, he can really make a difference. So glad to see him emerge!
We Out Here!!!! Just Win Bows!!!!
I can’t believe this is Thomas’ first career double double as the commentator mentioned..The way he plays feel like he has at least 4-5 this year alone!
And yes Clyde, that block from Q was awesome perfectly timed, we really shut down Coggins and Ahmad. Great job on D guys! How was Valdes with 5 assist and no turnovers too tonite
One day at a time
Dang! March Madness for sure. Fullerton last place team gives warriors a good game for 21 minutes. Warriors went back to what they do agressive. Valdes. Thomas spark. Then game over warriors in semis!!
Irvine could lose. So can 49ers. March Madness. Good win warriors!!
Way to move without the ball Big Mike. You tied your season high in field goals attempted this game with 11, and you had your 4th best scoring performance this season.
Maintain your aggression on offense by looking for your shot, moving without the ball and crashing the boards.
Agreed. Any UH team. Go inside first attack rim or mid range key jumper. Or dish. Too Many threes jacked by team first half! Inside first. Then kick out. Titans great effort young team they probably be top tier in future good coach too!
Quincy what is difference? His athleticism. Senior mature leader and Confidence . epn too 10 plays I think 2 handed at the rim block like VB roof block!
Quincy 2 handed stuff roof block should be espn top 10 plays of day sport center!!
Shaky first half but the team made adjustments and played really hard the second half. This team has heart and will to win bottom line. Great to be in Anaheim as there are more Hawaii supporters than any other school. I would estimate over a thousand looking at both sides of the arena.
No team in Big West has 5 guys on floor can put that type of defensive pressure on other team. Cannot see how 49ers swept warriors. Maybe athletic team that could rebound and handle ball withot turning it over 6 times in a row . All the 20 win UH basketball teams good team defense. Warriors can score too.
Concern if ucsb vs warriors . gauchos won 9th game in a row. We shall see who warriors meet semis. Ganot telling team score inside first and defensive stops first before taking 14 three attempts. Semis great games!!
Oakland and Hawai fans tv has microphone on you all.
We hear you all rockin the Honda center! 2 more wins get the ” SHIP!!”
The team’s offense looked much better in the second half than it has looked in a long time. Really liked when Bobbitt would drive 1-2 steps into the 3 point line to draw the help defender, then pass the ball to an open player who would then drive or make a quick pass. Looked much better than our offense of late, which is too predictable and usually results in us passing/dribbling the ball around the three point line for 15-20 seconds before doing anything.
Valdes also made some big time passes himself and I loved his aggressiveness. He won’t always shoot like he did the past two games, but he’s got the size and athleticism to put pressure on a defense when he posts up or drives like he did today. Hoping we’ve snapped out of our mini-funk and come out blazing against whoever we play tomorrow! Go Bows!!
Tomorrow’s game will be delayed (ESPNU) and shown after the second semifinal; probably about 9 p.m. Hawaii time. I think the same thing happened last year for the Hawaii semifinal.
If anyone hears about a live stream, please post it.
Tomorrow’s game will be stream lived on ESPN3 at 4:30 pm (Hawaii time).
Clyde, as Bernie (aka Uhfanzonly1, RunBows, eagle, Team1st) pointed out, game will be live on Espn3.
Is there no live stream for tomorrow’s game? Or is it espn3 live?
Thanks guys. ESPN3 it is.
Great job, on to the next challenge
Agree that Q play was amazing! Like slow motion. Felt like he was stuck on the backboard just hanging there for several seconds! WOW! I thought Valdes had an incredible all around game. I think he stays calm and steady and pushes through and leads the team this way. Mike was a beast. Stef Javonavich did a great job off the bench! It was a very balanced attack. Rod put up some great shots as well. I was so nervous at halftime, but I knew we would adjust (good job Ganot and co.). I have to say, I do love when we get up by that much and get the swag going, no look passes, kinda out-of-control awesomeness, lol!
Big day tomorrow. Gonna be a very tough one! Come on TEAM!!! Woo hoo. Gotta rest my voice. Great Hawaii crowd today. Hope even more tomorrow.
TOP Four Seeds ALL Pull out
UH >> UCSB (Hot Tem)
UC-Irvine >> LBSU
(TAVS — Leave ME OFF Your Ignorant List;
You’ve Been Told (By Others) Therte Is NO Similarity;
There Is BASIS to EVERY Thing I Write…)
GOOD UH Crowd!
RE: Support Na Wahine, Too!
Tough Men’s Final Four
NO Upsets is Fine with me…
Santa Barbara TOUGH
BUT What worked Twice ‘Should’ Continue to Work
Expect a Few More Smart UH Analysis Wrinkles
PLAY Fast-Start 40+
NEED Complete Game(s)
NEED Players to STAY In The Game
NO Cheap Fouls (REFS!)
GO ‘Bows!
JUST KEEP Winnin’
Feeling so excited and nervous. Listening to Santa Barbara fans yesterday talking, they’re feeling very confident. They like their chances , but also think Hawaii is very much like they are, very unselfish with ball and pass a lot. One fan noted “that gut Isaac killed us the first game and he’s gone”. I hope their team is this confident..OVER confident! I think that nine game win streak plays against them. Just talking out loud to convince myself and get the pre-game jitters out, HA! If you’re at the game, the crazy gray haired woman who sits half way up behind the bench and yells at the refs a lot is me. It’s very un-motherly but some guys sitting behind me yesterday called me the MVP fan yesterday, lol. My poor husband.
Biggest game of the season is the game in front of you. This DEFINITELY the biggest game of the season, LET’S GO BOWS! For all of you who couldn’t make it to Anaheim, I gotcha! CALL IT BOTH WAYS, REF!!! WHERE’S THE FOUL?!!