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 at 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.
“Yeah, it’s emotional,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “I just spoke to the team and said, ‘Let it go right now, because ‘Senior Night’ here is as good as it gets. (But) I want to give Long Beach credit, we didn’t deserve to win — they outplayed us, they out-competed us. We rallied a little bit in the second half, showed some of that fight, but just couldn’t get over the hump.
“But this group … (in) perspective, right now it hurts in the moment, but the good thing is we do get to do something better, we do get to play. With all that we’ve been through, 22 wins (overall), 14-6 (in league), we’re advanced to the semis, it does give us another day to recharge and maybe practice, which we clearly need and can use. But again I want to thank our team, our seniors … each of them very impactful.”
After a few minutes of logistics setup, the six Warriors seniors — Harry Rouhliadeff, Gytis Nmeiksa, Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson, Dre Bullock, Hunter Erickson and Yacine Toumi — were each introduced with their career and season highlights and then brought out to the floor for greetings with family, the coaching staff and teammates, to the ovation of over 1,000 fans who remained in the stands.
Johnson, a grad transfer from Utah State who is originally from American Fork, Utah, broke down with emotion in the tunnel leading to the floor, as he was being introduced.
“It was just awesome, when you’re in the game, you’re so locked in with what’s going on in the game … so to be able to take (the Senior Night festivities) in, and be able to see how many people were here supporting us and loving us, and to know that every time we stepped on the court, for practice, for weights, for games … it was for them. So for them to reciprocate that love … I couldn’t hold it back.”
Rouhliadeff, a rare four-year letterman from Brisbane, Australia, also showed rare emotion as he was being introduced.
“All the ups and downs of this place … I love this place with all my heart, and will always have a special place inside me,” Rouhliadeff said. “Coach Ganot and Coach Brad Davidson, they’ve brought me to a place where I found friends for life, teammates and brothers for life, and I really can’t thank them enough. I’ve had the most incredible four years of my life here, I would not change a thing.
“And these are the best fans in the world, there’s no doubt about that. They know how to cheer for us, it’s such a joy and such a privilege to play in front of these fans … I just want to say I love the support, I love the fans, I love the community of Hawai’i.”
Erickson, a grad transfer from Utah who is originally from Provo, Utah, said this one season has made a permanent impact beyond basketball.
“Absolutely,” Erickson said. “Everybody has been so amazing to me and my wife, this is our second home the rest of our lives. We love it here, and we love the people. Regardless of how long I’ve been here, only one year, everybody has just embraced us, loved us and treated us like family from Day One. That’s something I feel like you just don’t get anywhere else, especially in this day and age of college basketball.
“We absolutely love it.”
Big West Conference Standings (and tournament seeds)
*1. UC Irvine 15-5
*2. HAWAI’I 14-6
3. Cal State Fullerton 12-8
4.Cal State Northridge 12-8
5. UC San Diego 12-8
6. UC Davis 11-9
7. UC Santa Barbara 11-9
8. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 10-10
**9. Long Beach State 6-14
**10. UC Riverside 5-15
**11. Cal State Bakersfield 2-18
*Earned double-bye into the Credit Union 1 Big West Conference championship semifinals March 13 in Henderson, Nev.
** Failed to qualify for the Big Werst Tournament