The sixth-seeded Hawaii Pacific men’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to upset third-seeded Dixie State 71-65 on Thursday in the opener of the Pacific West Conference tournament in San Diego.
Justin Long scored 21 points for the Sea Warriors (15-12). His 3-pointer with 4:46 left put them up 61-60 and HPU never trailed again. He pushed the lead to 65-61 with 2:58 left with another jumper.
The Red Storm (21-6) led 51-41 with 14:22 left, but a 20-9 run put HPU up.
Farbod Farman had 19 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks for HPU, which will play second-seeded Dominican on Friday.
» In another men’s game, Lee Bailey had 21 points and 11 assists, Kuany Kuany scored 22 and Tyree Harrison added 10 points and 10 rebounds to lift Chaminade (17-12) over Brigham Young-Hawaii 90-85.
The Seasiders (15-12), led by Pablo Coro’s 24 points, cut a 12-point deficit to 84-83 with less than a minute left, but the Silverswords got layups from Bailey and Kuany and held on. Chaminade plays top-seeded Cal Baptist in a semifinal on Friday.
HPU women beat UH Hilo to advance to semifinals
Morganne Comstock had game highs of 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists to lead third-seeded Hawaii Pacific past sixth seed Hawaii Hilo 79-62 to advance to the semifinals of the PacWest Conference tournament.
The Sea Warriors will play second-seeded Cal Baptist on Friday.
The Vulcans (9-16) jumped to a 10-1 lead, only to see the Sea Warriors (18-9) go on an 11-2 run. HPU scored the first 10 points of the second half to go up 44-28 and eventually led by 22.
Kirstie Williams led the Vulcans with 19 points, and Kamie Imai had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Chaminade’s Bailey, HPU’s Long named to first team
Chaminade’s Lee Bailey and Hawaii Pacific’s Justin Long, both guards, received All-PacWest Conference men’s basketball first-team honors, which were announced prior to Thursday’s start of the tournament.
The major honors belonged to regular-season champion Cal Baptist, which claimed four awards. Ryan Berg became the first player in PacWest history to be named both the player of the year and freshman of the year. Chris Brown was named the defensive player of the year and Rick Croy the coach of the year in his first season for the Lancers.
Other players from Hawaii schools who received honors were Chaminade forward Kuany Kuany and BYUH center DeAndre Medlock on the second team and BYUH guard Pablo Coro and Scott Friel and HPU forward Malte Ziegenhagen, who were named to the third team.
HPU’s Savini selected to All-PacWest first team
Hawaii Pacific guard Skye Savini was named to the All-PacWest women’s basketball first team, which was dominated by regular-season champion Academy of Art.
Urban Knights forward Krystal Forthan was named the conference’s player of the year and newcomer of the year, while guard Jasmin Guinn was named defensive player of the year and LaNay Larson the coach of the year. Also honored from Hawaii teams were HPU forward Morganne Comstock and UH Hilo guard Kamie Imai on the second team, and BYUH guard Brydgette Tatupu Leopoldo on the third team.
