Elijah Pepper and Ty Johnson each scored 30 points to lead UC Davis to today’s 75-63 basketball victory over Hawaii in the University Credit Union Center in Davis, Calif.

By improving to 17-12 overall and 12-6 in the Big West, UCD strengthened its chances of earning the second seed in the league’s postseason tournament in two weeks. The top two seeds have two byes in the eight-team, single-elimination tournament. The Rainbow Warriors fell to 16-13 and 8-9, and are out of contention for a top-two seed.

The ’Bows cut a double-digit deficit to 56-52 on JoVon McClanahan’s jumper with 6:18 to play.

Then Pepper scored the Aggies’ next nine points. Off a curl pattern, Pepper swished a jumper to extend the Aggies’ lead to 58-52. On their next possession, Pepper slipped off a screen and buried a 3 from the corner while being fouled by Bernardo da Silva. Pepper’s ensuing free throw completed a rare 4-point play to make it a 62-52.

After UH was called for a 10-second violation, Pepper hit a 3.

Da Silva led the ’Bows with 20 points.