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The Hawaii men’s basketball team picked up a 76-64 win over Portland in the first round of CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center in the program’s first postseason appearance since 2004.
UH athletic director Jim Donovan, who had just spoken to CIT selection committee chair Riley Wallace, said UH (19-12) will host a second-round game on Saturday against either San Francisco or Air Force, depending on if USF beats Idaho tomorrow.
Junior point guard Miah Ostrowski scored a career-high 17 points and junior guard Zane Johnson scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half. Senior forward Bill Amis added a double double.
A crowd of about 4,300 was on hand to see UH’s first postseason win since beating Nebraska at the Sheriff in ’04. Meanwhile, UP (20-12) of the West Coast Conference made its third appearance in the CIT in all three years of the event’s history. The Pilots lost in the first round all three times on the road.
UH earned separation with a 13-0 run bridging the halves and from there led by double figures most of the way.
The Pilots hung around thanks to poor UH free-throw shooting in the second half, getting to within 70-62 with 1:31 to play. But UH got a fast-break dunk from Trevor Wiseman to ice it with about 45 seconds left.
Johnson tied Michael Kuebler’s single-season UH 3-point record of 97 set in 2004.
