UH Vs. UCSD: UH Defeats UC San Diego 72-67! Tom Beattie is STILL a Rainbow Warrior at Heart!

Описание: My recap of UH Vs. UCSD: https://mathew21688.wixsite.com/my-si...

Revenge is always sweet!

After a disappointing 10-point loss to the UC San Diego Tritons last month, the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team got one back with a clutch win, 72-67, at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday! UH now improves to 9-3 in the Big West standings and are tied with first place UC Irvine, who lost to UC Santa Barbara, 84-79, earlier this week!

Isaac Johnson led UH with 20 points and nine rebounds on 8-of-14 shooting with 17 coming in the first half! Isaac Finlinson was next with 15 points. Gytis Nemeikša chipped in all of UH's bench points at 11; he also had five rebounds and accounted for three of UH's six total blocks. Dre Bullock chipped in 10 points and seven key rebounds while Hunter Erickson added nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds, too.

UC San Diego was led by former Rainbow Warrior Tom Beattie's 14 points. Hudson Mayes was next with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds and UCSD's lone block of the game. Alex Chaikin and Bol Dengdit each chipped in 11 points themselves.

UH began the game with immediate fire via an 11-0 run and prompted an early timeout from UCSD! Johnson had scored nine of those points during that run which began with a triple. He sank a second one later in the first half.

UCSD did not concede to a cakewalk and chipped away at UH's lead. Although the Tritons fell behind by as many as 12 early on, they steadily got into UH's neighborhood. There was also a point in the first half where Beattie and Nemeikša had a verbal exchange that resulted in Beattie getting booed by the SSC crowd each time he had the ball.

By halftime, UH led all 20 minutes and took a scant lead, 34-32.

In the second half, it was UCSD that came out scorching hot! They missed only four of their first 11 shots and took their first lead off a Beattie triple over a minute in! UCSD then took as much as a five-point lead on two occasions.

Johnson, who had 17 at the end of the first half, was unable to have a big second half, so Finlinson had his turn!

UH had gone through a scoring drought of over three minutes with a bunch of missed 3-pointers. Nemeikša stopped that drought with a layup in the paint with 13:11 remaining.

That Nemeikša layup was the start of a 20-5 UH run! Finlinson gave UH the lead for good on a triple with 10:05 remaining, but UCSD refused to quit!

With 3:20 to go, UH's Erickson buried a triple to put UH up by 10! Shortly after that was when Johnson was issued a technical foul, but UCSD's Chaiken went 1-of-2 at the free throw line.

Refusing to fold, UCSD's Leo Beath sank a triple with 14 seconds left! It was now 69-67, UH! Ultimately, that turned out to be UCSD's last field goal.

UH's Erickson went 1-of-2 at the free throw line off a Mayes foul, and UCSD's Aidan Burke's forced jumper missed. Beattie fouled Bullock, and Bullock sank both free throws to lock things up!

UH improves to 17-5 in the 2025-26 season and won its 10th consecutive home game of the season. UH will hit the road for two games beginning with the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners on Thursday, Feb. 12. Tipoff at the Icardo Center is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. HST, and you can listen on the radio at ESPN Honolulu.