‘Bows finish strong on Senior Night

Senior night was a true celebration once again for Hawaii.

After fending off Cal State Fullerton 81-77 through some tense final minutes, UH could finally go out in style. The Rainbow Warriors won the final home game of the season for the first time in three years and earned their first 20-win season in a decade before a raucous crowd of about 7,500 on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The ‘Bows sent seniors Christian Standhardinger, Brandon Spearman and Davis Rozitis out as winners at the Sheriff, something UH couldn’t do for their recent crops of upperclassmen.

"It was wonderful. Man, it was like a dream come true," Spearman said after throwing down a senior dunk off the window from late-game hero Keith Shamburger, who iced the win by going 12-for-14 at the free-throw line in the closing minutes.

"I dreamed of us winning this last year, thinking about my senior night and, dreams do come true. I can’t feel more happy."

For UH coach Gib Arnold, it was his first 20-win season in his four years at UH. At 20-10 (9-7 Big West), it’s the most overall at UH since the NIT team of 2003-04.

"It’s much better winning on this night," Arnold said. "It’s so emotional anyway, and you want to win so badly for those seniors and all they’ve given. We had a little adversity there late, but we got out of it. I think it’s a good way to go out for these seniors."

Shamburger lent a steady hand at the line in the final minutes, including two with 4.1 seconds left for a four-point lead to ice the victory. He was one of five players who scored in double figures for the ‘Bows, with all of his 14 points at the stripe.

Standhardinger had 17 points and 15 rebounds, Isaac Fotu scored 18 on 8-for-11 shooting, Garrett Nevels came off the bench for the first time this season to score 14 and Spearman added 13 with five rebounds.

Rozitis, a three-year player and graduate student, made his first start of the season and contributed two points and four rebounds in 10 minutes.

"I’m blessed to be able to experience such great things in Hawaii," said Standhardinger, who was his typical energetic self, adding two blocks and two steals against the undersized Titans. "I just want to thank everybody. Thank you to the media you guys were always fair to me. Thank you to all the fans who came, for all the support. I’m just so grateful."

The ‘Bows’ seeding for this week’s Big West tournament was secure at No. 4 before tipoff. Just as the game started, it was decided that UH will face Cal State Northridge as its first-round opponent in the 4-5 game on Thursday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., thanks to Cal Poly’s loss at home to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. UH split home-and-home with the Matadors this season.

UH avoided a three-game losing streak heading into its biggest game of the year.

UH went on a 10-2 run to answer Fullerton’s only lead of the second half at 65-64 and held off the Titans from there though it certainly was close.

The ‘Bows saw a 13-point lead evaporate as the Titans tied the score at 56 on a fast-break dunk by Marquis Horne at the midpoint of the second half.

UH also dodged a sizable bullet from CSF (11-19, 6-10), which will be the No. 7 seed. In the game’s final seconds, UH which was up 79-77 after a Shamburger free throw with 14.9 seconds left benefited from an ill-advised shot by guard Michael Williams. CSF’s leading scorer put up an off-balance runner with about 10 seconds left from about 35 feet that was well off the mark and UH forced a jump ball on the rebound, gaining possession.

Shamburger was sent back to the line with 4.1 seconds left, where he made both to ice the game with a four-point lead.

"Williams was playing for a foul," said first-year CSF coach Dedrique Taylor. "That was bad game management on my part.

"I’m proud that my boys stayed in the game. Even when they got down, they continued to fight back."

The Titans drew within three, 75-72, on a possession in which it got four 3-point attempts, finally making the last by Josh Gentry.

Gentry hit a deep 3 to to keep it a three-point game. Spearman made one of two, but Williams connected on a pull-up 3 with 16.8 seconds left to make it 78-77, but that was the last bucket the Titans would muster.

CSF’s high-scoring backcourt of Williams and Alex Harris combined for 29 points in the loss. Horne scored a team-high 18 and Gentry added 17.

Saturday
Hawaii 81, CS Fullerton 77
Long Beach State 74, UC Riverside 67
UC Irvine 74, UC Davis 46
UC Santa Barbara 71, Cal Poly 55

Big West Conference Tournament
All games at Honda Center (Anaheim)

Thursday
Quarterfinals
No. 7 Cal Poly vs. No. 2 UC Santa Barbara, 9 a.m.
No. 6 CS Fullerton vs. No. 3 Long Beach State, 30 minutes after
No. 8 UC Riverside vs. No. 1 UC Irvine, 3 p.m.
No. 5 CS Northridge vs. No. 4 Hawaii, 30 minutes after

Friday
Semifinals
Highest remaining seed vs. lowest remaining seed, 3:30 p.m.
other two quarterfinal winners, 6 p.m.

Saturday
Championship
Semifinal winners, 4:30 p.m.

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

Halftime — Hawaii 44, CS Fullerton 35.

3-points goals — CS Fullerton 7-24 (Gentry 3-6, Harris 2-7, Williams 2-9, Horne 0-2). Hawaii 3-11 (Standhardinger 1-1, Spearman 1-3, Nevels 1-5) Steals — CS Fullerton 5 (Gentry 2, Harris 2, Horne). Hawaii 7 (Fotu 2, Spearman 2, Standhardinger 2, Valdes). Blocked shots — CS Fullerton 2 (Gentry, Horne). Hawaii 4 (Standhardinger 2, Fotu, Valdes). Technical fouls — none.  Officials — Mark Fulton, Quinton Reece, Phil White. A—not reported.