HONOLULU – For the second straight game, four Tritons scored in double figures – including a game-high 25 from
Francis Nwaokorie and a double-double from
Roddie Anderson III – but host Hawai'i rallied for a 69-62 victory inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday night. The Tritons lost their fourth consecutive game, falling to 8-17 overall and 3-10 in The Big West.
Hawai'i remained in the hunt in The Big West standings with the win. The Rainbow Warriors (18-7, 9-4) improved to 12-3 at home.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego got off to a hot start offensively. The Tritons got two fast break buckets from Anderson to go up 7-3. UC San Diego took a 17-5 lead on another Anderson layup, hitting 6-of-8 shots during that stretch. Nwaokorie had 12 points in the game's first nine minutes.
Hawai'i cut into the Tritons' lead, but the Nwaokorie-Anderson tandem continued to keep the visitors in front.
Nwaokorie scored 18 in the first half on 7-of-9 shooting as the Tritons took a six-point lead into the locker room. As a team, the visitors sank 14 of their 28 first half field goal attempts. UC San Diego scored 20 points in the paint in the first half and held a 16-13 lead on the glass.
In the second half, Hawai'i used a 15-0 run and kept the Tritons off the board for nearly nine minutes as the Rainbow Warriors forged ahead, 47-38. The Tritons began the half connecting on just one of its first 15 field goal tries as the UH defense clamped down.
Hawai'i led by 10, 49-39, before back-to-back layups from
Bryce Pope cut the deficit to six with just under eight minutes to play. UC San Diego drew to within two, 60-58, on a three-pointer from
Jace Roquemore with two minutes remaining.
The Rainbow Warriors never surrendered the lead on the way to the seven-point win. UH was led by 17 points from Samuta Avea. Bernardo da Silva added eight points and 12 rebounds.
Nwaokorie led all scorers with 25.
Jake Kosakowski scored 12, with Anderson and Pope scoring 10 apiece. Anderson's 10 rebounds are a new career best.
QUOTABLE
"We had a hard time scoring for a stretch, but they do that to a lot of teams – they're a really good defensive team," said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Olen. "We felt like we found some things that were working for us. I'm really pleased with our response to their run. We fought back and made some shots, gave ourselves a chance."
TRITON TIDBITS
- Anderson's double-double was the second of his career (the other was points and assists), and the fifth by a Triton this season.
- UC San Diego lost for the first time in a Big West Thursday night road game (now 3-1).
- The Tritons led 35-29 at the half. UC San Diego has led at halftime in nine of its 13 Big West games.
- UC San Diego wore white uniforms for the second time this season outside of LionTree Arena (neutral site game vs. Youngstown State at Navy's Alumni Hall in November).
- Hawai'i leads the series 4-0 since the Tritons moved to Division I in 2020-21.
- UC San Diego used a starting lineup of Roddie Anderson III, Jace Roquemore, Bryce Pope, Jake Kosakowski, and Francis Nwaokorie for the seventh consecutive game.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego has a bye this weekend and returns to the court at home on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at home against Cal State Fullerton – the lone Big West team the Tritons have yet to face this season. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. with tickets available through the
Triton Box Office.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
