
Quickly and impressively turning frustration into fun, Hawai’i bounced back from a painful defeat Thursday to rout Cal State Fullerton, 82-57, in Big West Conference men’s basketball action Saturday night.
A crowd of 4,035 in SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched junior forward Harry Rhouliadeff record his first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and sophomore guard Tom Beattie add 14 points and a career-high five assists as the Warriors snapped a three-game skid and improved to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in league play.
Donovan Oday led the Titans with 13 points and six rebounds and Antwan Robinson added 10 points and four boards as Cal State Fullerton fell to 6-17, 1-10.
Oday opened the scoring with a fast-break layup but Akira Jacobs answered with a 3-pointer two minutes in, and UH never trailed again. The Warriors built leads of 15-2, 22-4 and 27-6 and took a commanding 37-20 lead into halftime.
Zachary Visentin’s tip-in putback cut it to 41-26 two minutes into the second half, but that was as close as the Titans would get as Hawai’i stretched the lead to 20, 25 and even 32 points (82-50) with three minutes to go.
The Warriors made 6 of 16 attempts (37.5 percent) from 3-point range in the first half, and 10 of 30 (33.3 percent) for the game.
UH dominated the boards, out-rebounding Cal State Fullerton, 47-32, and outscored the Titans in the paint, 40-22.
The Warriors will hit the road for their next game on Thursday at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Big West Conference Standings
UC Irvine 10-1
UC San Diego 8-2
UC Riverside 8-3
Cal State Northridge 7-4
UC Davis 6-5
UC Santa Barbara 6-5
HAWAI’I 5-6
Cal State Bakersfield 4-7
Long Beach State 3-8
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 2-9
Cal State Fullerton 1-10