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The Maui News
The University of Hawaii men's basketball team lost to UC Riverside 62-52 in the Big West Conference tournament quarterfinals Thursday night in Las Vegas, ending the season at 11-10.
Junior Madut scored 12 points and Mate Colina added 10 for the sixth-seeded Rainbow Warriors, who have dropped all of their conference tournament openers since winning it all in 2016.
UH trailed 26-24 at halftime and eventually found itself down 41-33 after a 3-pointer by the Highlanders' Wil Tattersall with 14 minutes, 30 seconds remaining. Still down by seven points with under 10 minutes left, the Rainbow Warriors went on a 9-2 run -- capped by a pair of 3s from James Jean-Marie and Madut -- to tie the game at 49.
UC Riverside responded with a pair of layups to go ahead again, and the Highlanders were able to pull away and hold off UH from the free-throw line.
Dominick Pickett scored 14 points to lead the third-seeded Highlanders (14-7), who advance to face No. 2 UC Irvine in the semifinals. Jock Perry had 13 points and Zyon Pullin scored 10.
Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field -- UH shot 36.5 percent (19 of 52) and UC Riverside shot 39.3 (24 of 61).
The fifth-seeded UH women's team, who beat Cal State Bakersfield 81-67 in a quarterfinal Wednesday, takes on top-seeded UC Davis in the semifinals today at 10 a.m. Hawaii time.