Hawai’i secures road sweep behind big 2nd half from Nemeikša, Christensen

Road warriors. 

The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team saw four different players finish in double figures to down Cal State Fullerton (5-14, 0-6 Big West) on Saturday, 95-86, securing a road sweep to go above .500 in conference play for the first time this season. Gytis Nemeikša turned in his fourth 20-point game of the year while pulling down a team-best eight rebounds, scoring 16 of his 20 points after halftime to help UH win for the third straight outing. 

Tanner Christensen added 19 points – 10 following the midway break – and seven rebounds in the wire-to-wire win for the road squad, his fourth straight contest with at least 10 points and at least 5 boards and ninth overall this year. Tom Beattie matched a career high with 16 points in his second consecutive start while dishing out four assists in 32 minutes of work for the Rainbow Warriors. 

Hawai’i (11-5, 3-2 Big West) received a big boost from sophomore Akira Jacobs, who scored 14 points off the bench as he turned in back-to-back double-digit outings for the first time this year (Jacobs had a 12-point outing in Thursday’s win over UC Riverside). The 6-foot-10 forward drilled a pair of three-pointers, continuing his stretch of at least one make from beyond the arc in all five Big West games for UH this season. 

Donovan Oday tallied a career-high 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting in the loss for Cal State Fullerton, who remained winless in conference play. Zion Richardson and Kobe Young scored 15 and 14 respectively for the Titans, who racked up a season-best 86 points and still fell short at home. 

Hawai’i snatched the early advantage behind an aggressive Nemeikša before the Lithuanian picked up foul just over two minutes into the action, sending UH’s leading scorer to the bench for an early breather. Back-to-back hits from distance by Beattie and Ryan Rapp put the Rainbow Warriors up by five before the Titans tied things back up at 14 with 13:31 left in the opening half. 

Akira Jacobs scored his first points of the afternoon from the charity stripe a minute later, giving Hawai’i a two-point lead before draining the first of his two three-pointers after the under-12-minute media timeout, restoring UH’s five-point lead. Jacobs and freshman Aaron Hunkin-Claytor continued to show off good chemistry with each other as the young guard found Jacobs for his second triple a few possessions later, giving the Rainbow Warriors their largest lead of the first half, 26-17. 

Cal State Fullerton rallied back with 9 of the next 12 points to pull within a possession, trading baskets with Hawai’i over the final six minutes of the opening stanza until Marcus Greene’s finish over a couple defenders and an Aaron Hunkin-Claytor block to close the half gave UH a four-point lead as they went to the locker room. 

Hawai’i’s frontcourt provided another burst out of the break, seeing Nemeikša and Christensen score six of UH’s first eight points to start the second half as the lead grew to eight. Four straight points from Beattie helped Hawai’i counter another CSUF rally before a 7-2 run by Zion Richardson made it a one-point game with 14:32 left to play. 

A whistle frenzy led to both teams entering the bonus by the 11-minute mark, slowing down the pace on both ends. Hawai’i, who entered the day as one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the Big West, calmly cashed in from the charity stripe to hold off the Titans’ run until Tom Beattie could give the Rainbow Warriors breathing room with a nifty spin move and his second three of the day with 6:38 remaining. 

Hawai’i went 14-for-14 from the free throw line over the final six minutes, denying any chance for Cal State Fullerton to come back as the Rainbow Warriors missed only two of the 38 attempts from the line overall in the 95-86 victory. The 38 free throws are the second-most in a single game this season for UH, who went 26-for-40 in an overtime win against Weber State back in November. 

Aaron Hunkin-Claytor had another quality showing off the bench, scoring seven points for the second straight game to go along with two rebounds, an assist and the blocked shot to end the first half. Ryan Rapp recorded his first two blocks of the season in the win, scoring five points and grabbing five rebounds to go with the pair of rejections. Marcus Greene chipped in four points while playing a season-low eight minutes off the pine.

Hawai’i returns home to host CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield next week, looking to continue the ascent up the conference ladder after an 0-2 start to Big West play. The Rainbow Warriors split the first Big West homestand in 2025, dropping a close decision against UC Santa Barbara before dispatching Cal Poly two nights later.