Hawaiʻi men's basketball defeats Bakersfield on senior night

It was another successful senior night.

A crowd of 4,877 at the Stan Sheriff Center saw the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team close out the Big West season with its fourth win in the final five contests with a 74-57 win over the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners on Saturday. Simultaneously, six seniors were honored.

Justin McKoy led UH and all players with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting and a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line. Noel Coleman was next in line with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

Kaleb Higgins led the way for Bakersfield with 15 points. Marvin McGhee III was the only Roadrunner to crack 10 points, finishing with 11.

Both UH and Bakersfield split the first 10 points of the first half until Bakersfield used a couple of shots to pull out as much as a four-point lead. Bakersfield would never lead by more than that.

With 11:17 remaining, two McKoy free throws started a 6-0 run to put UH in the lead for good. Bakersfield tied the score several times but could not get in front.

Juan Munoz buried a triple with 7:53 remaining to break another tie at 17. That was the start of a 5-0 run to keep Bakersfield back.

Bakersfield would tie things up at 22 with 5:37 remaining via a McGhee triple, but like before, they could not regain the lead.

UH responded and made its last eight shots of the first half. They outscored Bakersfield, 18-8, in that last 5:37 to end the first half with a 40-30 lead. It was a great first half for UH, as they committed three turnovers to Bakersfield's six.

UH came out firing in the second half with another Coleman triple less than a minute in while Bakersfield took a bit to get a field goal made.

UH would extend its lead to 20 with 15:58 remaining via a 15-5 run, and it looked like they would run away, but Bakersfield was not so sure.

UH went cold for the next five minutes while Bakersfield went on a 12-0 run to close the gap to five points, 57-52. A JoVon McClanahan layup with 8:12 remaining ended the drought.

Bakersfield went through a five-minute scoring drought themselves while UH pulled away with a 15-3 run, which included eleven unanswered. In that final 8:12, Bakersfield was held to just one made field goal.

UH would get its final field goal of the home season via a Harry Rouhliadeff hook shot with 47 seconds left for the final arithmetic.

"He's been coming on and everybody's had different breakthroughs at different times," Head Coach Eran Ganot said. "Eventually, it was going to happen for him."

The 'Bows did well in the second half with six turnovers committed, nine overall, to Bakersfield's five, 11 overall. This win marks UH's fourth in the last five, and their sixth straight at home to end the season.

"We were at a point where we were just tired of losing," McKoy said of their slow start and strong push as of late. "I told myself I was going to play as hard as I can to make sure that doesn't happen again."

With the win, Hawaiʻi improves to 19-13 overall and 11-9 in the Big West. They officially locked up the third seed in the Big West Tournament after Long Beach State fell to UC Davis, 88-78, and UC Santa Barbara fell to UC Riverside, 81-64, at home earlier this week.

UH will now travel to Henderson, Nevada for the Big West Tournament Quarterfinals. Tipoff at the Dollar Loan Center is scheduled for 3 p.m. HST on Thursday, Mar. 14.