Gytis Nemeiksa scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Harry Rouhliadeff added 12 points and five boards Saturday night to help Hawai’i defeat visiting Cal State Fullerton, 69-59, in Big West Conference men’s basketball action.
An announced crowd of 4,374 (tickets issued) watched Isaac Finlinson add a season-high 11 points and five rebounds off the bench as the Warriors improved to 8-2 overall, and 2-0 in league play. Landon Seaman scored a game-high 17 points and Bryce Cofield added 16 points for the Titans, who fell to 3-7, 0-2.
The game ended the Big West’s “Bold Week,” an early start to conference play which will resume in January.
UH built a 39-25 lead at halftime after hitting on 8 of 21 attempts from 3-point range. Dre Bullock’s 3-pointer with 13:19 remaining in the first half ignited a 14-3 run that stretched a one-point lead into a 22-10 advantage capped by Rouhliadeff’s triple four minutes later.
Cal State Fullerton got as close as 53-47 on Seaman’s jumper midway through the second half, but Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson answered with a free throw with 8:51 left to start a 7-0 run culminating in Finlinson’s layup to extend the lead to 60-47 with 6:32 on the clock, and a layup by Nemeiksa with 2:51 remaining pushed it to 67-51, effectively sealing the victory.
Warriors coach Eran Ganot said he is pleased to start the Big West season at 2-0, but cautioned the vast majority of the schedule remains to be completed.
“That’s all we can control, set the tone,” Ganot said. “Like I said before, (it’s) two games of 20, we have 18 more league games, and that’s not coming for another three or so weeks. The only thing we can do is continue to prepare, control what we can control. We certainly need to protect home court. It’s humbling, and we’re grateful to be in the position we’re currently in, but we know there’s a long way to go and we have to keep getting better and if we don’t, we’re going to get humbled by that.
“Again, I have a lot of respect for our league, understanding the battles that will come in day in, day out as people fight for seeding and all types of things.”
The Warriors return to the court Wednesday for a nonconference home game against UH Hilo.
Big West Conference Standings
HAWAI’I 2-0
UC Irvine 2-0
UC Santa Barbara 2-0
UC San Diego 1-0
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 1-1
Cal State Northridge 1-1
UC Riverside 1-1
UC Davis 0-1
Cal State Bakersfield 0-2
Cal State Fullerton 0-2
Long Beach State 0-2