What a difference two days makes!

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After a pummeling to UC San Diego two nights ago, the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team used an early 22-2 run to cruise past the Cal State Fullerton Titans, 82-57, at the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday. It was also UH's first home victory over Fullerton since 2022 and first season sweep over CSF since 2020!

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Harry Rouhliadeff and Tom Beattie led the 'Bows with 14 points apiece with Rouhliadeff pouring in 11 rebounds for a first career double-double. Akira Jacobs and Marcus Greene were next with 10 apiece.

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Donovan Oday led a short-handed Fullerton squad with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Antwan Robinson and Zachary Visentin added 10 apiece themselves.

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Oday drew first blood for Fullerton, but that lead only lasted for 53 seconds. Fullerton would go scoreless for the next five minutes.

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Jacobs would score UH's first eight points of the game, which started with a 4-point play. Despite several delays due to a malfunctioning shot clock, UH pounced on Fullerton early to the tune of a 22-2 run. Just like that, UH found themselves ahead by a bundle, 22-4, while CSF was held to just an Oday slam dunk for quite a while.

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UH continued to play with purpose and confidence and held Fullerton to just six made field goals in the first half alone. UH went 6-for-16 from 3-point range as well while Fullerton went 0-for-7.

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To make matters worse, Fullerton would lose Zion Richardson for the night after a fall on the court resulted in an apparent ankle injury.

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At the half, UH held a healthy lead, 37-20; the 20 points was a season low for UH against their opponents in 2024-25. Rouhliadeff led all players with 10.

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UH continued to motor away after the break which started with a Beattie slam dunk. Rouhliadeff joined in the fray with a slam dunk of his own. With Tanner Christensen saddled with foul trouble, Jerome Palm came off the bench to carry the flag and poured in a critical seven points and nine rebounds for the night.

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Fullerton made a run and cut the gap down to as little as 14, but they had no chance to pull off an upset. John Mikey Square was a no-show due to an ankle injury.

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UH ballooned its lead to as many as 32 before the reserves came in to finish out the last four-and-a-half minutes and change. There was more joy, as Logan Robeson drilled his first triple as a Rainbow Warrior.

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With the win, UH improves to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in the Big West while Cal State Fullerton falls to 6-17 overall and 1-10 in the Big West. Unfortunately, UH remained in seventh place in the standings after UC Santa Barbara pummeled Long Beach State, 85-54, earlier this week.

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UH will hit the road against the Cal Poly Mustangs on Thursday, Feb. 6, and against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Saturday, Feb. 8. Both tipoffs are scheduled for 5 p.m. HST. You can listen to both games on ESPN Honolulu, and you can watch the Cal Poly game on Spectrum SportsNet.