MANOA — The University of Hawai‘i men’s basketball team accelerated their climb up the Big West Conference standings by completing a sweep of Cal Poly Saturday afternoon at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The sweep of the Mustangs placed the ‘Bows (7-5, 5-5) in the middle of the BWC race.
The win also puts Hawai‘i in contention to gain a favorable seed in the BWC Tournament, to be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas March 9 to 13.
Hawai‘i’s statistical dominance on the glass was one of the clear-cut reasons for the win over the Mustangs in the first game of the series.
The ‘Bows outrebounded the Mustangs in the first game 38-19, and the statistical dominance didn’t stop there.
Cal Poly struggled to contain four of Hawai‘i starters, and the ‘Bows leading scorer Justin Webster was a player the Mustangs plain failed to stop.
Webster scored a game-high 20 points, and received plenty of help from his supporting cast.
Mate Colina and Casdon Jardine scored a combined 28 points in the game they won 84-68.
Junior Madut finished with 13, as the four managed to score 63 points, nearly equal to the entire output of the Mustangs in the first game.
The ‘Bows also shot 58.3% from the field in the game.
In the second game, Hawai‘i was equally as dominant, with James Jean-Marie leading the team with 20 points in the game they won 81-64.
The Mustangs didn’t have any answers for the other ‘Bows leading contributors, as Webster finished with 18, Jardine scored 11 and Noel Coleman with 10 points.
Hawai’i shot a collective 55% percent from the floor while holding the Mustangs to 41% percent for the night.
This victory puts UH in sixth place in the BWC standings. They get a chance to move up in the standings this week when they host the University of California Santa Barbara (12-3, 8-2), atop the BWC, at 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.
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Jason Blasco, reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or jblasco@thegardenisland.com.
