UH Vs. CSF (3/13/26) Big West Tournament Semifinals
The dream is still alive for Hawaiʻi!
The number two seed Hawaiʻi Men’s Basketball team used a pair of late runs to defeat the number three seed Cal State Fullerton Titans, 78-63, in the semifinals of the Credit Union 1 Big West Tournament at Lee's Family Forum in Las Vegas, NV, on Friday! UH will meet the top-seeded UC Irvine Anteaters on Saturday for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Hawaiʻi had four players in double figures. Isaac Johnson led the way with 19 points and five rebounds. Team captain Harry Rouhliadeff added his first double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Dre Bullock added 11 points and five rebounds. Hunter Erickson chipped in 10 points himself and a team-high five assists.
Christian Williams led the Titans with 21 points and was a whopping 6-of-10 from 3-point range. Bailey Nunn added 11 points off the bench and was 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Bryce Cofield was the next highest with just nine.
UH spared Fullerton the first bucket, but they went on a 10-0 run right out of the gates in less than two minutes.
CSF responded with a 9-0 run themselves to tie the score at 13.
Isaiah Kerr came off the bench and sank two free throws to put UH back in the lead. The 'Bows were able to maintain the lead the rest of the first half.
Isaac Finlinson buried a triple with 6:57 remaining and was fouled in the process. He completed the four-point play, and UH was able to pull out a gap of as many as 11!
By halftime, UH took an 8-point lead, 29-21.
Williams got Fullerton back in the game in the second half. He hit three triples in the first eight minutes to give CSF a 34-33 lead with 16:33 to go. Teammate Kendrick De Luna made a layup to tie the score at 42 with 11:33 to go.
UH had no intention to give up its five-game win streak over CSF! With 10:57 remaining, Erickson made a turnaround jumper to ignite a 9-0 UH run to take the lead for good.
Johnson hit six free throws in an 8-point UH run with 5:57 to go to give UH a 61-47 lead.
From that point on, it was checkmate, and UH pulled away! Fullerton could not get any closer than nine.
Despite 17 turnovers for UH, they whomped CSF on rebounds, 53-26, and missed just one free throw the whole game, going 25-of-26!
UH improves to 23-8 overall while Cal State Fullerton sees its season end at 18-16 overall. Tipoff for the Big West Championship is scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 14 at 4 pm HST, and you can watch the game on ESPN2 or listen on the radio at ESPN Honolulu.
