UH ends regular season with loss

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. » Neither Christian Standhardinger’s offense nor Vander Joaquim’s rebounding could keep short-handed Hawaii from a late collapse in its final Big West Conference regular-season game.

The Rainbow Warriors scored only two baskets during a 10-minute span late in the game and fell 88-75 to Cal State Northridge on Thursday night at Northridge’s Matadome.

The Rainbow Warriors now wait for the rest of the conference to finish up play on Saturday to determine their seed going into next week’s Big West tournament in Anaheim, Calif.

UH will either be the fifth or sixth seed and will play Pacific, Cal Poly or UC Irvine in the first round.

The ‘Bows finished 3-6 on the road in conference play.

Standhardinger led the Rainbows (17-13, 10-8) with 26 points after scoring a total of 13 in the previous two games. The junior made eight of 17 shots and nine of 12 free throws.

Standhardinger attributed his success against the Matadors (14-17, 5-13) to Isaac Fotu’s and Jace Tavita’s recent offensive contributions.

"Sometimes, teams focus on me and I don’t have as many open looks," Standhardinger said. "Fotu and Jace did an amazing job in scoring the last couple of games. Teams had to focus on them, now, so it’s my time to score."

Joaquim contributed not only 16 points but also grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds.

"I’m surprised," Joaquim said of his personal record. "I didn’t know that until now. I’m happy for myself, but it doesn’t really matter if we didn’t win."

Northridge responded with guard Josh Greene, who made seven of 14 shots from 3-point range to finish with a career-high 37 points.

"The guy just had a phenomenal night," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "We tried some different things on him. We went man. We went zone. We went to a box-and-1. We just didn’t have the quickness to stay with him."

That quickness proved decisive against the Rainbows, who dressed only 10 players. Brandon Spearman remained in Hawaii with a sprained ankle, and Orzen Pavlovic did not travel to California because of academic problems.

As a result, only eight Rainbows saw action and five played at least 28 minutes, with Standhardinger and Tavita establishing career highs in minutes played.

Tavita, who underwent surgery on his left pinkie finger on Tuesday, passed for six assists but finished without a point after missing all four of his shots.

"We got tired at the end," said Arnold, who praised the Matadors’ relaxed attitude.

"They played like a team that had nothing to lose," Arnold said. "They were really loose. Those teams can be really dangerous."

Nevertheless, both teams exchanged the lead 10 times and forced seven ties before Northridge took control in the final 10 minutes.

Joaquim spun away from a double team for a lay-in, then Standhardinger made two free throws to put UH ahead, 66-63, with 10:20 to play. But Greene scored 13 points during a 22-5 blitz that gave Northridge an 85-71 lead with 1:03 left.

"The shots were good from outside; we just didn’t hit them," Arnold said. "That led to long rebounds and they were running on us."

The Rainbows left after the game to return to Hawaii, where they hope to recuperate for the conference tournament, which starts Thursday in Anaheim, Calif.

"I think we need to get rested and guys need to get healthy," Arnold said. "No one is seriously injured, outside of Spearman. But it’s going to be three games in three games, which is tough."