The dream is still alive!

In the quarterfinals of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Tournament, the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team battled back to defeat the Cal State Northridge Matadors, 75-68, at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada on Thursday. This is UH's fifth win in the last six games.

Justin McKoy's 16 points led a pack of four UH players who scored double figures. Bernardo da Silva was next with 14 points and surpassed the 1,000-point mark simultaneously.  Noel Coleman had 12, and Juan Munoz chipped all 11 of his points in the second half.

De'Sean Allen-Eikens led the way for Northridge with 22 points. He was followed by Dionte Bostick's 18, and Keonte Jones poured in a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Northridge jumped out to an early 10-3 lead after Coleman drew first blood. Northridge enjoyed a sizeable lead until after the 14-minute mark.

Coleman buried UH's first of 10 total triples overall, and UH started to come to life. That Coleman triple sparked an 8-2 run until an Allen-Eikens triple put the 'Bows back to square one.

JoVon McClanahan finally gave the 'Bows the lead at the 6:20 mark with a drive-in layup, but Northridge would not surrender so easily. The two teams exchanged the lead several times, but two Harry Rouhliadeff free throws would ultimately put UH in the lead for good.

Unfortunately, Rouhliadeff took a fall on the court with 2:23 remaining and did not return to the game.

UH would pull away courtesy of back-to-back triples from McKoy and Akira Jacobs. They would lead at halftime, 36-30.

Northridge made an early push in the second half with the first two field goals made, but UH was ready for them.

Munoz answered back and buried his first triple of the game, but Northridge's Jones scored the next three. Munoz and McKoy hit back-to-back triples themselves to extend the gap back out.

Munoz buried his third triple to give UH its biggest lead, 53-43, with 14:05 remaining.

Northridge scored the next eight unanswered before Jacobs stopped the bleeding with a layup. UH was able to keep their lead above two possessions for most of the rest of the way.

With 3:14 remaining, UH led, 68-64, after da Silva went 1-of-2 at the free throw line. A Bostick layup cut UH's gap to two, but with 2:04 remaining, McClanahan ultimately clinched the win with a clutch layup.

Northridge never got closer than four points after that. Their only consolation was another Bostick layup with a minute to go.

UH drained their free throws down the stretch for the final arithmetic.

The 'Bows improve to 20-13 overall, and they will face off against the UC Davis Aggies on Friday, Mar. 15 at 5:30 p.m. HST at the Dollar Loan Center in the semi-finals of the Big West Tournament. UH split the series with an 87-70 win in Honolulu on Feb. 10, only to fall to Davis on the road, 75-63, on Feb. 29. You can listen to the game on ESPN Honolulu or watch it on ESPN2.