HONOLULU — The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team dropped an overtime duel with Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night, opening the Big West schedule with a 63-61 loss to the Titans at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. 
 
The Rainbow Warriors (8-5, 0-1 Big West) and Titans (8-6, 1-1) went to overtime for the third time in the last four meetings and Cal State Fullerton emerged with the victory in a game that featured 16 ties and 13 lead changes. 
 
Cal State Fullerton’s Dominic Brewton pushed the Titans ahead 61-60 with a jump hook with 1:20 left in overtime and John Michael Square got a shot to roll in with :26 remaining. 
 
UH guard JoVon McClanahan was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made one of three free throws with 17 seconds left and the Rainbow Warriors got the ball back after two missed Fullerton free throws. After a timeout, Justin McKoy’s jumper at the buzzer was off the mark to send the ‘Bows to a third straight loss and give Cal State Fullerton its fifth straight win over UH. 
 
UH forward Bernardo da Silva scored all of his 15 points in the second half  and shot 6 for 9 from the field. The senior also grabbed 10 rebounds in his fourth double-double of the season. McKoy finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. 
 
Guard Noel Coleman added nine points and reached 1,000 in his UH career at the 6:18 mark of the first half. Just 16 other Rainbow Warriors have accomplished that feat with Christian Standhardinger the last to reach the milestone in 2014.
 
Brewton led Cal State Fullerton with 17 points and forward Vincent Lee added 10 points inside. 
 
The first half was a slug fest. UH shot just 35 percent in the first half, including 1-of-10 on threes and fell behind by as many as nine with less than a minute left. But the ‘Bows got some much needed momentum going into the half with Tom Beattie’s steal and slam that cut the deficit to 27-21 at the break. 
 
UH continued momentum out of the locker room with a 10-2 run sparked by back-to-back McKoy 3-pointers. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than three points to the remainder of regulation. 
 
Da Silva scored on a putback while drawing a foul and his free throw gave UH a 56-53 lead with 1:20 left. Brewton made one of two free throws then converted a steal into a layup to tie it up at 56-56 with 42 seconds left. 
 
Both teams missed shots in the final 15 seconds and McClanahan’s shot from beyond halfcourt zipped through the net just after the buzzer. The shot was waved off after a review, sending the game into overtime. 

Beattie’s layup with 2:28 left gave UH its final lead 60-59 before Brewton and Sqaure’s buckets pushed Cal State Fullerton to the win. UH shot just 5-of-23 on three-pointers, 12-of-21 from the free throw line and committed 17 turnovers in the loss. 

 

The Rainbow Warriors next head to the road for just the second time this year when it plays a pair of games at Cal State Bakersfield (Jan. 4) and CSUN (Jan. 6).

 

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