Warrior Insider

Noel Coleman scored 14 points and JoVon McClanahan added 13 points tonight to help Hawai’i stave off visiting CSUN, 58-51, in Big West Conference men’s basketball action.

A Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday crowd of 2,739 in SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Bernardo da Silva added 11 points and Samuta Avea 10 points as the Warriors improved to 14-4 overall and 5-1 in league play. Dionte Bostick scored a game-high 21 points and Dearon Tucker added 10 points for the Matadors, who fell to 3-15 and 0-7.

UH led, 33-17, at halftime after holding CSUN to 21 percent (6 of 28) shooting from the field and out-rebounding the Matadors, 22 to 13.

But CSUN clawed back in the second half, fueled by a 13-0 run that cut the lead to 38-32 after DeSean Allen-Eikens’ jump hook with 13:30 remaining. The Matadors later closed it to 52-51 on Tucker’s three-point play with 3:16 left. But that would be it for CSUN, as da Silva answered with a putback at the 2:25 mark and McClanahan and Avea sank four straight free throws in the final 19.7 seconds to seal the victory.

The Warriors will continue BWC play this week with two road games: at UC Irvine on Thursday, then at UC Riverside on Saturday.

More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.

Big West Conference
Monday’s Results
UC Davis 78, at UC San Diego 70
at UC Riverside 83, Cal Poly 78 (OT)
UC Santa Barbara 73, at UC Irvine 65
at Cal State Fullerton 76, CSU Bakersfield 46
at Hawai’i 58, CSUN 51

Thursday’s Games
UC Riverside at UC Davis
CSUN at UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego at Cal Poly
Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State
Hawai’i at UC Irvine