Rainbow Warriors reach Big West tournament championship game
Hawaii's Stefan Jankovic, right, dribbled past UC Davis' J.T. Adenrele during the first half of Friday's Big West Conference tournament semifinal game in Anaheim, Calif.
The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors Roderick Bobbitt brings the ball upcourt against the UC Davis Aggies during a semifinal game of the Big West Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors Aaron Valdes takes a shot against the UC Davis Aggies Corey Hawkins during a semifinal game of the Big West Tournament on Friday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim. University of Hawai'i won the game 65-58. PHOTO BY DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER
The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors Roderick Bobbitt passes the ball against the UC Davis Aggies Avery Johnson during a semifinal game of the Big West Tournament on Friday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim. University of Hawai'i won the game 65-58. PHOTO BY DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii's Aaron Valdes celebrates after scoring against UC Davis during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament, Friday, March 13, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif. Hawaii won 65-58.
ANAHEIM, Calif. >> One more win and Hawaii is back in the NCAA Tournament.
The fifth-seeded Rainbow Warriors made the late plays to drive a stake into top-seeded UC Davis in a 65-58 victory in the Big West tournament semifinals on Friday at the Honda Center.
UH faces third-seeded UC Irvine in the ESPN2-televised championship at 5:30 p.m. (Hawaii time) on Saturday. The Rainbows (22-12) went 0-for-2 against the Anteaters (20-12) in the regular season.
It is the first time since 2002 UH is in a conference title game. That was also the last time the Rainbows advanced to the NCAAs.
Thursday’s first-round win over Long Beach State was only the second victory in 11 conference tournament games for Hawaii going back to 2005. Now it’s three in 12.
"There were a lot of things said in the (postgame) locker room," UH coach Benjy Taylor said. "My star point guard here (Roderick Bobbitt) put it best. He said, ‘Who would have thought?’ We started off trying to make this a season everyone would remember, and so far it’s been exactly that."
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Behind the interim coach Taylor, UH has its most victories since the 2001-02 team won a program-record 27 games.
Aaron Valdes came up with the play of the game, elevating to get a piece of Corey Hawkins’ tying floater attempt and coming away with it. He was fouled and made both for a four-point lead with 32.9 seconds left.
UH then swarmed Davis guard Darius Graham as he drove into the lane and Negus Webster-Chan came up with a steal. Bobbitt and shooting guard Garrett Nevels put it away with free throws as UH closed out the game on a 9-2 run.
"Just want to congratulate Coach Taylor and Hawaii on a hard-fought, well-played victory," said UC Davis’ Jim Les, the Big West Coach of the Year. "Down the stretch they just made a few more plays than we did and they deserve to win."
Hawkins, the Big West Player of the Year, scored a game-high 22 on 8-for-13 shooting. But no other player scored more than eight for the Aggies (25-6), who have an automatic berth to the NIT awaiting them as the Big West regular-season champion.
Bobbitt scored 14 with six assists and two steals, guard Isaac Fleming had 13 points and four assists, and Valdes scored 12 in the victory.
"Why not us?" Valdes said. "I feel like this could be our year and we are ready for it."
UH came out on fire and led by 13 points in the early going, saw its lead dwindle to three at halftime, and disappear completely early in the second half. Davis tied it up a few times, but never actually took the lead.
Valdes scored a tough bucket inside and followed with a hoop in transition plus the foul for a 41-36 lead with 11:54 to go.
Fleming scored on a dish from Bobbitt to go back up 11 with under five minutes left.
Bobbitt converted a three-point play and Valdes followed with a baseline dunk to put UH up 48-40 with 7:53 to play.
Bobbitt slashed in for another layup and Valdes took a charge on Davis forward Josh Ritchart at the other end, keeping UH up 50-44 with under six minutes remaining.
Webster-Chan buried a corner 3 and Fleming scored inside on a feed from Bobbitt for a 56-45 lead with four minutes to go.
Hawkins came up clutch for the top seed. He swished consecutive triples to ignite an 11-0 run and Davis surged back to tie it at 56.
UH went small with a guard-heavy lineup down the stretch and closed it out at the free-throw line, going 9-for-10 in the last two minutes.
"We stayed poised, we took one step at a time," Bobbitt said. "We kept fighting and stuck with it together."
Fleming put UH back up, 58-56, on two 1-and-1 free throws with 1:40 left. Those turned out to be the go-ahead points.
Davis forward Josh Fox missed two at the line, but UH turned it over on an errant pass by Bobbitt with a minute left.
That’s when Hawkins drove down the lane and Valdes stepped up big, rising to meet the guard’s shot near the apex.
Nevels, Webster-Chan, and Stefan Jankovic knocked down 3s for a 9-2 lead to open the game.
Valdes and Fleming got in on the 3 party to make it 19-9.
UH led 22-9 with 10:53 left in the half on a step-back jumper by Fleming. However, the ‘Bows would make only one field goal the rest of the period and led only 26-23 at the break.
The Hawaii women’s basketball team also reached their Big West championship game earlier Friday with a win over Cal State Fullerton.
