Protecting home court again in Big West Conference play, Hawai’i denied visiting Cal State Northridge, 89-68, Saturday night to sweep this week’s two-game homestand.
An announced crowd of 6,025 (tickets issued) in BankOh Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson score a team-high 18 points with seven rebounds and Gytis Nmeiksa add 16 points and six boards as the Warriors improved to 15-4 overall and 7-2 in league. Larry Hughes II scored a game-high 19 points and Mahmoud Fofana added 14 points for the Matadors, who fell to 11-10, 4-5.
After a competitive first half ended with UH ahead, 40-34, CSUN quickly closed it to 40-37 on Hughes’ 3-pointer just 13 seconds into the second half. But Dre Bullock answered with a jumper 29 seconds later to ignite a 17-4 run capped by Hunter Erickson’s layup to stretch the lead to 57-41 with 15:42 remaining.
After Josiah Davis scored on a layup to close it to 62-50 four minutes later, Isaiah Kerr slammed home a fast-break dunk to start an 11-3 surge culminating in Nmeiksa’s free throw which pushed the lead to 73-53 with 8:19 left.
The Matadors could not get closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
More details to come.
Big West Conference standings
HAWAI’I 7-2
UC Irvine 7-2
UC Santa Barbara 6-3
UC San Diego 5-4
UC Davis 5-4
Cal State Fullerton 5-5
Long Beach State 4-5
Cal State Northridge 4-5
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 3-6
Cal State Bakersfield 2-7
UC Riverside 2-7