Box Score
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team found themselves down early and could not recover in a 72-56 loss to California, Friday night, in the semifinals of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena. The Rainbow Warriors (3-2) will play for third place against Pacific on Saturday.
The Golden Bears will face Loyola Marymount in the championship game. The Lions outlasted Pacific, 88-85, in double overtime in the night's first semifinal.
UH forward Ahmet Gueye led the 'Bows with 14 points and six rebounds. Todd Follmer came off the bench and added a season-high 10 points.
Leading scorer Matt Lojeski scored a season-low seven points for the 'Bows but dished out a career-high 10 assists. The senior was held to 3-of-10 shooting. Guard Dominic Waters had 10 points and four assists.
"For some reason we were sluggish on defense," associate coach Bob Nash said. "They got a run on us but we came out after halftime and got within eight, but then we hit that wall."
Cal scored 12 unanswered, eight by Omar Wilkes, during a 15-2 run to take an early 19-6 lead. UH answered back with seven straight to pull within six.
But the Bears's quick guards caused havoc for UH and went on a 16-5 run to push its lead to 35-18. Cal took a 37-24 lead into the half, shooting 54 percent from the field while holding UH to a season-low in first half scoring and Lojeski scoreless.
The 'Bows closed the deficit in the second half, pulling to within eight at 43-35. But a pair of 3-pointers by Ayinde Ubaka and Ryan Anderson and a steal followed by a fastbreak lay-up by Wilkes pushed the deficit back to 16.
UH would not go away quietly, cutting the Cal lead to 56-49 with just over eight minutes to play. A Theo Robertson 3-pointer on Cal's next possession pushed the Bears' lead back to double digits and the 'Bows would not get closer the rest of the way.
Four Bears scored in double figures led by Anderson's 18 points and 11 boards. Ubaka had 12 points and six assists.
The UH-Pacific game begins at 6:00 p.m. AST (5:00 p.m. HST). The game can be heard on 1080 AM.
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