MĀNOA — Each 3-pointer by Long Beach State star freshman guard Gavin Sykes brought the University of Hawai‘i men's basketball team further away from their goals. By the time his barrage in the closing minutes of an 84-75 Beach victory ended, a Stan Sheriff crowd of 5,468 was left stunned.
The day had clearly not gone to plan for a UH team that entered Saturday needing a victory to clinch a share of the Big West Conference regular season title. All that stood between the Rainbow Warriors and a tie for the conference title was a game against the Beach, who entered the contest as one of the Big West's bottom dwellers.
With eight teams making the conference tournament, the Beach (10-23, 6-14 Big West Conference) played for pride on Saturday knowing their season wouldn't continue beyond the week. Coached by former UH assistants Chris Acker and John Montgomery, LBSU played like it had nothing to lose on Saturday. No player symbolized that on Saturday more than Skyes, who made three 3-pointers in as many possessions to give the Beach a 77-64 lead with 2:04 left to seal the game.
Hours before tipoff, the Rainbow Warriors watched from afar as UC Irvine rallied from a 14-point deficit to defeat UC Davis in overtime at home. A UC Irvine loss combined with a UH win on Saturday would have given the 'Bows the outright regular season title in their last year of membership. The Rainbow Warriors came out flat on Saturday, trailing 44-34 at halftime despite Hunter Erickson's 18 points at the break.
Despite the loss, the Rainbow Warriors (22-8, 14-6 Big West) will enter next week's conference tournament with an automatic double bye to the semifinals. The 'Bows will play at 5:30 p.m. HST against an opponent to be determined.
"We got use this as a learning opportunity, and use it as fuel," senior Isaac "Big Fish" Johnson said following the loss. "I think at the very least, we need to make sure that it gives us a little bit of a propulsion going forward, because we can't afford to take anybody lightly. I think we did that a little bit tonight, so we got to just be full steam ahead moving forward."
Following the contest, the Rainbow Warriors honored their six seniors in Johnson, Gytis Nemeikša, Hunter Erickson, Dre Bullock, Yacine Toumi and captain Harry Rouhliadeff. Johnson and Rouhliadeff were visibly emotional during their senior goodbyes.
"I've had the most incredible four years of my life here, and these are the best fans in the world. There's no doubt about that," said Rouhliadeff, a native of Australia. "They know how to cheer for us, and it's such a joy, such a privilege, to play in front of all these fans every single week. I just want to say I love the support, love the fans and love the community."
Added Ganot, who will have no years remaining on his contract after the season: "I spoke to the team near the end, like, let it go right now, because senior night here is as good as it gets. I want to give Long Beach credit. We didn't deserve to win. They outplayed us.
"But this group, it hurts right now in the moment, but the good thing is, we do get to do something about it."
In the women's Big West tournament, the Hawai‘i women's basketball team will receive a bye to Thursday's quarterfinals, where it will play an opponent to be determined at 9 a.m. HST.
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
