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UH basketball team defeats Coastal Carolina

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KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii Warriors guard Aaron Valdes (32) makes a slam dunk in the first half of the University of Hawaii Warriors against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers men's basketball game in the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center in Manoa today.

The Hawaii basketball team will face off with an old nemesis for the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic title.

UH’s 74-63 defeat of Coastal Carolina tonight, combined with Nevada’s 83-62 win over Montana State earlier in the day, means that the Rainbow Warriors and Wolf Pack will have the round-robin title on the line when they meet at 11 p.m. Monday to cap off the tournament.

UH and Nevada were regular foes in the Western Athletic Conference before moving on to the Big West Conference and Mountain West, respectively.

A Sunday afternoon crowd of 3,255 saw UH improve to 2-0 for the fourth straight season. Point guard Roderick Bobbitt scored 23, his second career 20-point game at UH, to go with five rebounds and four assists while playing all 40 minutes.

Aaron Valdes added 12 points and Quincy Smith 11.

UH used a 14-1 run bridging the halves to go up 47-33, then Bobbitt connected on his fourth 3 — a new career best — for a 20-point lead.

Chanticleers guard Elijah Wilson heated up late, hitting three 3-pointers to get CCU (0-2) within 68-58.

UH made enough free throws in the final four minutes — 11-for-17 — to maintain the lead as CCU went to fouling to make up the gap.

Many times, the Chanticleers guards tried to attack the Rainbows off the dribble, to mixed results. They shot 38.5 percent, as did UH. But the visitors from the Big South Conference committed 20 turnovers compared to 13 for UH. Bobbitt had four steals, giving him nine in two games.

Coastal Carolina cut a 15-point first-half deficit to one on a three-point play by guard Jaylen Shaw with 2:13 to play in period. Shaw scored a team-high 15 points for CCU.

But UH came back with a Sai Tummala 3 on a dish from Isaac Fleming, igniting an 8-1 run going into halftime. 

Bobbitt, who started the game with a 3, was all net on a top-arc 3 in the final seconds of the half and UH took a 41-33 lead into the break.

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