Warrior Insider

The University of Hawai’i basketball team kept it close for the first 35 minutes, but came up short in the closing minutes of a 68-59 loss at UC Davis in a Big West Conference game at The Pavilion at Davis, Calif., on Thursday.

The Warriors had a 47-45 lead with under eight minutes remaining, but the Aggies went on a 15-4 run over the next four minutes to take a 60-51 lead that it would not relinquish the rest of the way.

Hawai’i dropped to 14-14 overall and 8-7 in the conference; UC Davis improved to 19-11 overall and 11-4 with its second victory over the Warriors this season.

Jack Purchase made five 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead the Warriors. He also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Noah Allen added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Gibson Johnson contributed 12 points and five rebounds.

The Warriors trailed for most of the first half, and UC Davis had a 30-27 lead at intermission. However, Hawai’i led by as many as six points early in the second half before the Aggies made their late surge.

In the most glaring statistic of the game, Hawai’i went 0 for 1 on free throws, while the Aggies went 8 for 17.

The Warriors will remain on the road to play at Long Beach State to close the regular season on Saturday. UC Davis will play at UC Irvine on Saturday in a game that will determine the regular-season championship.

More details will be reported as it becomes available.