‘Bows cruise to victory as Titans tumble

ANAHEIM, CALIF. >> If eighth-seeded Cal State Fullerton fancied itself the Cinderella of the Big West tournament heading into Thursday’s quarterfinal against top-seeded Hawaii, the Rainbow Warriors played the role of the clock tower.

UH allowed Fullerton a half of entertainment. Then it was over, suddenly and without argument, as the ’Bows tolled the bell and bounced the Titans from the ball, 75-44 at the Honda Center.

It was Hawaii’s first tournament game as a No. 1 in 14 years, and it showed. A less-than-convincing first half allowed the lowly Titans to hang within a point at halftime, and even take the lead momentarily at the start of the second.

Then it was over in a blaze of ’Bows buckets. A 28-3 run put it out of reach as Hawaii (25-5) moved on to face No. 4 UC Santa Barbara in today’s first semifinal, the second straight year UH moved into the Big West’s final four.

“The first game in the tournament’s always the hardest, ’cause you have to get going at the start. Butterflies,” said wing Aaron Valdes, who scored a game-high 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting. “I think after the first couple minutes we kind of settled down, started playing our game.”

Red-hot UCSB routed No. 5 UC Davis 87-61 in Thursday’s first game, the Gauchos’ ninth straight victory. UH’s 76-64 win at the Thunderdome on Feb. 4 was UCSB’s last loss.

Big West Player of the Year Stefan Jankovic double-doubled in that one. The big man watched Thursday’s decisive stretch from the bench; he picked up his third foul immediately to start the second half.

No matter. Spurred by Roderick Bobbitt’s four steals during the run — vaulting him past Tom Henderson for the UH career record, now at 163 — UH scored opportunistically and improved to 5-0 coming off a loss.

“It means a lot. I’m not going to lie, it was in the back of my head a lot,” said Bobbitt, who now owns UH’s game, season and career steals records. “Now that I got it, I can just put it behind me. It is an honor to be the leader in steals at UH.

“I owe it to my teammates, honestly. We got them sped up, I just was in the passing lanes doing what I know to do. That was it.”

Bobbitt scored 14, forward Mike Thomas had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the first double-double of his three-year career, and Jankovic finished with 12 and three blocks. Valdes added six boards, five assists and three steals.

Fullerton scored just 18 points in the second half to UH’s 48, and shot 24 percent in the period and 29.8 percent for the game. Their 44 points were the fewest allowed by the Rainbows since a 69-43 win over Fresno State on Feb. 5, 2009.

UH made it a three-game season sweep of the Titans (10-20), who saw their season come to an end.

“Hawaii is the No. 1 seed for a reason,” CSF coach Dedrique Taylor said. “They took over the basketball game and showed why they’re one of the better teams in the country.”

CSF appeared to have a chance when UH took some ill-advised 3s in the first period and the Titans closed it on a 9-2 run, getting within 27-26 at the break. Then UH had eight of its 10 steals after the break, and only two of its nine turnovers.

“We executed and the baskets were a payoff from the execution,” Taylor said. “I thought the last two or four possessions we did that. That was a really good momentum builder for us. But then the second half started.”

Half of Hawaii’s field-goal attempts in the first half were from behind the arc, compared to less than a third after the break.

“We had to change that and get to the basket a lot more, play more aggressive,” Thomas said.

Jankovic, Sheriff Drammeh and Valdes hit unanswered 3s down the stretch and gave way to the “Hawaii 5-O” bench mob, to the delight of the few hundred UH fans in the building.

The victory gave Eran Ganot the most wins for a Big West rookie coach. He passed the 24 of Hall of Famers Jerry Tarkanian and Lute Olson.

His response to the subject was predictable.

“I don’t think about that,” he said. “I always say individual honors are a direct result of team success. We’ve got a great team. Look at the locker room. That’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had.”

Ganot preferred to talk about his team’s defensive effort. Fullerton’s guard play was bothersome in the regular season, but top scorer Tre’ Coggins was held scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting and BWC Freshman of the Year Khalil Ahmad was held to five points on 1-for-7. CSF tried to work it inside, but couldn’t punish UH consistently for the overplays on the perimeter. Forward Tim Myles had 10 points and 12 boards to lead the Titans.

“I thought our bigs were tremendous in terms of (coming out) on the ball screens, making them get rid of it,” Ganot said. “And so they shot 1-for-13 from 3. That was a point of emphasis. They’re too dynamic; they’ve got a flurry of guards who can really create some havoc. Just really pleased with our guys’ effort, because that’s a 40-minute cover.”

Backup center Stefan Jovanovic supplied seven points, six rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes, helping UH to a plus-15 margin on the glass.

“Big Stef came in and gave us tremendous minutes,” Bobbitt said. “We knew that we couldn’t just stop because Janks picked up his third foul. We had to keep pushing, and that’s what we did.”

Starting guard Quincy Smith had a quiet stat line, but had a memorable play in the first half. As CSF point guard Lionheart Leslie went in for a layup, Smith leapt from behind and block-pinned the ball on the glass with two hands, then ripped it down in one motion, drawing oohs from fans from both teams.

HAWAII 75, CAL STATE FULLERTON 44

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; r: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

Halftime — Hawaii 27, Cal State Fullerton 26

3-point goals — Cal State Fullerton 1-13 (Akoh 1-2, Ahmad 0-2, Brooks 0-4, Coggins 0-5). Hawaii 9-25 (Valdes 3-4, Bobbitt 2-6, Jankovic 2-6, Drammeh 1-2, Tummala 1-3, Buscher 0-1, Smith 0-1, Thomas 0-2). Steals — Cal State Fullerton 5 (Ahmad, Brooks, Coggins, Esume, Myles). Hawaii 10 (Bobbitt 4, Valdes 3, Jovanovic, Smith, Thomas). Blocked shots — Cal State Fullerton 2 (Akoh, Henderson). Hawaii 8 (Jankovic 3, Jovanovic 2, Smith, Thomas, Tummala). Turnovers — Cal State Fullerton 12 (Coggins 3, Akoh 2, Allman 2, Myles 2, Ahmad, Brooks, Leslie). Hawaii 9 (Bobbitt 5, Thomas 2, Jovanovic, Smith). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Tom Nally, Andy Cohn, Don McAllister. A — NA.