Fueled by reserve power, the University of Hawaii basketball team broke away to Saturday night’s 84-62 road victory over Cal State Northridge at The Matadome on the CSUN campus.
The outcome helped the Rainbow Warriors finish third at 10-5 in the Big West, their best league record and highest regular-season finish since claiming the title in 2015-16.
As the third seed, the ’Bows will face No. 6 UC Riverside in Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nev. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. The Highlanders ousted the ’Bows in last year’s tournament.
Junior Madut scored 18 points and Kamaka Hepa added 15 for the ’Bows.
Amaro Lado and Beon Riley came off the bench to provide a boost. Lado scored 11 points, and Riley, who defended the low post, produced nine points and six rebounds.
“It was more than (the points),” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “They played good defensively. Junior was in foul trouble. He played 22 minutes, but what a great 22 minutes. Jerome (Desrosiers) was in foul trouble. We had to navigate through that. We were able to do that with guys like Beon and Lado. Hopefully, it will help us moving forward.”
UH’s reserves outscored CSUN’s bench 29-15.
The ’Bows also were able to maintain possessions, turning the ball over seven times. The Matadors committed 14 turnovers that were turned into 18 UH points.
The Matadors built a 19-13 rebounding advantage in the first half. But the ’Bows owned the boards in the second half with a 22-11 edge.
The Matadors were without three players projected to be starters this season. Interim head coach Trent Johnson also was suspended for the game because of an incident against UC San Diego. But the Matadors held a 25-24 lead before the ’Bows took control.
“After the first couple minutes of the second half, we really separated, one of the most balanced efforts in every facet,” Ganot said. “I think it was (our) lowest turnovers in a while. That was something we knew was a priority for us to make a jump. We took care of the ball, we rebounded, and that’s why we had the separation we had.”
During a run of 4 minutes, 2 seconds, the ’Bows widened a 54-48 lead to 72-50 with 5:26 to play.
Atin Wright led the Matadors with 28 points.
The ’Bows connected on 27 of 36 free throws. The Matadors made 12 of 19. Three Matadors fouled out.
