HENDERSON, Nev.  —  The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team held off CSUN 75-68 in the quarterfinals of the Hercules Tires Big West Championship Thursday night at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev., to advance to the semifinals for the second time in the last three years.
 
The Rainbow Warriors' 20^th win of the season set up a matchup with second-seeded UC Davis on Friday at 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time (5:30 p.m. Hawai'i Time).
 
Justin McKoy led four UH players in double figures with 16 points AN D three three-pointers. Bernardo da Silva finished with 14 points and passed the 1,000-point mark for his career. Noel Coleman added 12 points and Juan Munoz also drained three three-pointers in an 11-point performance.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (20-13) finished with 10 three-pointers and shot 42 percent behind the arc in its eighth win in the last 10 contests.
 
UH got off to a miserable start in its second meeting with CSUN in a week, missing eight of its first nine shots and committing three turnovers less than five minutes in. The 'Bows fell into an early 10-3 hole, but chipped away and eventually took a 24-23 lead on a JoVon McClanahan layup at the 6:20 mark. UH led by as many as eight on an Akira Jacobs three-pointer before taking a 36-30 lead into the locker room.
 
UH did not relinquish that lead in the second half, but the result was up in the air until the final minute. Munoz hit three three-pointers in a span of 3:35 early in the second half, the last stretching UH's lead to 53-43 at the 14:05 mark. CSUN answered with an 8-0 run before Jacobs scored inside to give UH a 55-51 lead.
 
UH led 66-58 when Tom Beattie finished a fast break but CSUN again made a charge and closed to 67-64 on back-to-back layups by Keonte Jones. UH managed to fend off the Matadors and McClanahan scored on a drive to give UH a 70-66 lead with 2 minutes left.
 
Coleman added two free throws to make it a six-point margin, Bostik scored on a drive for CSUN and UH held a 72-68 lead going into the final minute of regulation. After a Matadors timeout, McKoy worked into the post and drew a foul in the waning seconds of the shot clock and made two more free throws. CSUN's next two possessions came up empty and da Silva came up the rebound both times and the 'Bows closed out the victory.

UH got a big boost from its bench which out-scored the CSUN resrves, 22-6. UH also finished 17-of-25 from the free throw line,

The Rainbow Warriors now face a UC Davis coming into the tournament with a double-bye. The teams split the regular-season series with each team winning by double-digits on their home floor.