UH falls short vs. UC Davis, is No. 6 seed for Big West tourney

The University of Hawaii men’s basketball team rallied before falling short against UC Davis on Saturday, 7466 in Davis, Calif.

James Jean-Marie had a team-leading 19 points and eight rebounds for the Rainbow Warriors, who finish the regular season 11-9, 9-9 in Big West Conference play. Justin Webster had 14 points and Biwali Bayles scored 10.

The result locked UH into the No. 6 seed for this week’s Big West tournament in Las Vegas. The Rainbow Warriors will take on No. 3 UC Riverside in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 6 p.m. Hawaii time.

Against the Aggies (9-7, 6-4), Hawaii trailed 36-30 at halftime and eventually fell behind by 14 points midway through the second half. Noel Coleman soon kicked off the UH comeback with a 3-pointer, and the Rainbow Warriors closed within 6159 on a pair of free throws by Jean-Marie with 3:59 remaining, though they would get no closer as the Aggies held on for a split of the teams’ two-game series.

Ezra Manjon led UC Davis with 16 points. Elijah Pepper, Damion Squire and Christian Anigwe each scored 14. Pepper also had 11 rebounds as the Aggies won the battle on the boards 36-22.

On Saturday night in Honolulu, the UH women’s team split its series with conference regular-season champion UC Davis, losing 54-46.

Olivia Davies had 13 points, Kasey Neubert added 12 and Amy Atwell scored 11 for the Rainbow Wahine (8-7, 7-6), who shot just 26.3 percent (15 of 57) from the field.

A night after upsetting the Aggies 70-60, UH held a slim 29-27 halftime lead before UC Davis pulled away in the second half.

The Aggies (10-2, 9-1) were lead by Evanne Turner’s 13 points. Cierra Hall and Sage Stobbart each chipped in 12 points.

The Rainbow Wahine, seeded fifth for the Big West tournament, are set to take on No. 4 Cal State Bakersfield in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at noon HST.