Long Beach State — the team that was not invited to next week’s party — crashed Hawai’i’s one Saturday night as The Beach stunned the Warriors, 84-75, for a satisfying season-ending road victory.
A supportive, white-clad “Senior Night” crowd of 5,468 in BankOh Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched freshman guard Gavin Sykes torch UH with a game-high 34 points for Long Beach State, which ends its season at 10-22 overall and 6-14 in the Big West Conference. Hunter Erickson scored a team-high 23 points and Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors, who fell to 22-8, 14-6.
Hawai’i finished second in the regular season, will be the No. 2 seed in the Credit Union 1 Big West Championships in Henderdson, Nev., and ride a double-bye straight into Friday’s semifinals. The three teams on the Warriors’ side of the bracket are No. 7 seed UC Santa Barbara (18-13), No. 6 seed UC Davis (18-13) and No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton (17-15).
Long Beach State finished ninth in the regular season standings and thus did not qualify for the league tournament, but treated Saturday night as its championship game.
After falling behind, 5-0, out of the gates The Beach later used an 8-1 run to take a 17-15 lead midway through the first half. By halftime, they extended it to 44-34. And despite the Warriors rallying to take the lead back deep into the second half, Long Beach State roared back and won going away.
More details to come.