Across The River

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Hawaii Rainbow Warriors: 2015-16 Big West Men's Basketball Champions

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Hawaii had a very limited window to make the NCAA Tournament.

With NCAA sanctions about to take effect that ban them from the 2016-17 postseason, the Rainbow Warriors' last chance at March Madness for the foreseeable future was Saturday night. Hawaii made the most of its opportunity.

Aaron Valdes scored 14 points, Stefan Jankovic scored all 10 of his points in the second half, and the top-seeded Rainbow Warriors hung on late to beat No. 3-seed Long Beach State 64-60 in the Big West Conference Tournament championship game.

The Rainbow Warriors (27-5) earned an automatic bid to their fifth NCAA Tournament and first since 2002.

"This is huge for us. Honestly, we deserve this," Jankovic said. "With all the infractions and everything we've been through, we told ourselves this year we were going to go all the way. We're a tough group."

Hawaii was sanctioned for infractions committed under former coach Gib Arnold. Its penalties include a 2016-17 postseason ban, scholarship reductions, and players allowed to transfer without having to sit out a year.

Despite those sanctions and a third coach in three years at the helm, the Rainbow Warriors rolled to a conference co-championship in the regular season before claiming the conference tournament title.

"We all could've quit, gone to other places, but we stuck together and stuck it out," said Valdes, who was named tournament MVP. "It means a lot after all we've been through together."

Their resilience showed in the title game.

Hawaii blew a 12-point, second-half lead and was tied at 58, but Jankovic hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:45 to go and the Rainbow Warriors made it stand up.

Justin Bibbins missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer for the 49ers (20-14) with 5 seconds to go, and Noah Blackwell and A.J. Spencer missed potential go-ahead 3s in the final 90 seconds as well.

"I liked our opportunities," Long Beach State coach Dan Monson said. "I have no regrets from Bibbins' look at all. He's our best 3-point shooter and I would take him for a shot to go to the tournament every time."

The 49ers finished 5 for 22 from 3-point range.

Nick Faust scored 17 points before fouling out and Bibbins and Travis Hammonds each scored 12 to lead Long Beach State.

Hawaii held its largest lead, 44-32, with 13:25, but Long Beach State erased it and tied the score at 56 on Faust's 3-pointer with 3:54 to go.

Faust fouled out with 3:27 left, though, and the 49ers were without their leading scorer down the stretch.

Jankovic took advantage and swung the momentum back Hawaii's way with his 3-pointer to make it 61-58, and that was enough to keep the Rainbow Warriors in front in the final breathless minutes.

It was Hawaii's first win in three games against Long Beach State this season.

"The difference this time was our composure," Rainbow Warriors coach Eran Ganot said. "When we needed people to step up, they did."

DAILY DOUBLE

Hawaii's championship win followed a victory by its women's team in its final earlier in the day.

This year will mark the second time both the Hawaii men's and women's teams made it to the NCAA Tournament in the same season. It previously occurred in 1994.

It also marked only the fourth time in Big West history the same school produced the men's and women's tournament champion in the same year.

ALL-TOURNAMENT

Bibbins and Faust were named to the all-tournament team for Long Beach State. Jankovic joined MVP Valdes on the first team for Hawaii, and UC Irvine guard Luke Nelson and UC Santa Barbara guard Michael Bryson rounded out the team.

TIP-INS

Long Beach State: Hammonds also fouled out with 1:06 remaining. ... The 49ers only led for 6:49 of the game and never led in the second half. ... They dropped to 5-6 all-time in Big West Tournament championship games.

Hawaii: The Rainbow Warriors won the rebounding battle 35-30. They are 23-0 when winning the rebounding battle this season. ... Jankovic, the conference Player of the Year, played only seven minutes of the first half because of foul trouble. ... They tied the school record for wins in a season.

UP NEXT

Long Beach State: Awaits a possible postseason bid.

Hawaii: Finds out its NCAA Tournament seed Sunday.

UC Irvine: 2014-15 Big West Men's Basketball Champions

ANAHEIM, Calif. >> The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors could not close the deal on UC Irvine and the Big West Conference tournament.

UH led for the whole first half and was even with the Anteaters through 30 minutes of play but third-seeded UCI pulled away late to defeat UH 67-58 on Saturday night at the Honda Center.

Now the Rainbows (22-13) wait to hear if they will play in a postseason tournament like the NIT or CIT, or if their season is over.

The Honda crowd of about 3,000 was comprised about two-thirds of UCI fans, but UH had vocal support as well.

Guard Luke Nelson led the second-half Anteater comeback with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting.

For UH, forward Aaron Valdes scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half. Garrett Nevels scored 14 on 6-for-12 shooting.

UH was swept by UCI home-and-home during the regular season, and the Anteaters did it without their 7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye, the tallest player in college basketball. This time Ndiaye was an imposing presence in the paint.

An early 13-point lead dwindled to two in the final minute of the first half. UH settled for a four-point halftime advantage -- which disappeared immediately to start the second period.

The teams battled evenly through the first 10 minutes of the second half. Irvine claimed its first lead, 42-40, on a short hook shot by Ioannis Dimakopoulos.

Point guard Roderick Bobbitt picked UCI's pocket in the open court -- his 100th steal of the season -- and took it in for a layup to tie it back up. Isaac Fleming followed with a strong take as recaptured the lead, 45-43.

Mike Thomas sank a 17-footer from the baseline for a 47-44 UH advantage. But the Anteaters then rolled off eight straight points to take a 52-47 lead.

Valdes ended the run with a deep 3-pointer from the wing to cut it to 52-50 with three minutes left. But it was just about all UCI from there.

UH scorched the nets for the first seven minutes of the game, jumping out to a 20-7 start by hitting on four of five 3-pointers, similar to what the Rainbows did in their semifinal win over top-seeded UC Davis.

Alex Young sank a pull-up jumper to cut it to 31-29.

Valdes hit a tough runner to make it 33-29 and Jankovic stripped Will Davis II at the other end to preserve the four-point halftime lead.

Valdes had 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting and five rebounds in the period. 

Bongaboi: A Pangya Master From SoCal

Fubuki and Mutsuki from Kantai Collection are grinning at me as I write this new blog entry related to Pangya. Can you imagine if Kaga or Tenryuu or Kongou was made the main character of KanColle? It would spark unrest amongst the fans loyal to their respective shipfus. (Shipfu = ship waifu.) That's why ZUN is against an anime adaptation for Touhou Project, but even that's inevitable.

But let's cut to the chase, readers. At approximately 3:20 a.m. PST, on Mar. 14, 2015, I had finally reached the Master ranks of Pangya Global. It wasn't much, just a nine-hole round of West Wiz on Grand Prix mode on Black Papel 1, the flagship server of Pangya Global. But it was the most important nine holes, as winning this round gave me the experience points I needed to make it to Master E rank.

And there was a lot of buildup to this, too. I had won three rare costume sets from Memorial Gacha: two normal coins and one premium coin (Crimson Berserker Set for Azer, Agent Cecilia Set for Cecilia Classic, Snow Bunny Set for Hana Classic); a fourth Gacha costume set from spinning cubes (the Poster Set for Lucia that I had been chasing for weeks), a duplicate Project G set for Hana that I handed down to my alt, a set of white Under Rim glasses for Lucia that I bought from the Dolfini Shops...and the Candy Club Set that my old golfing friend MS_Aries had. I bought one for my main and alt.

The Candy Club Set on my main jumped up from a D-rank Level 4 to a B-rank Level 5 but since this came at the cost of sacrificing the ranking up of the Handyman Set, it won't move up to A-rank for a while because I want those tools to hopefully be transformed. I'm not going to hog up the Titan Cleansing Powder on those things because I generally don't use the powder, which resets the ranks. I took part in a Tee Time with GM_Melody and was introduced to this thing called a Golden Sweet Yam.

Now what this Golden Sweet Yam does is boost your game EXP by 50% for two hours. However, I decided to save the yams until a later point in time because I really didn't need to go all out to get the EXP to reach the Master ranks. The gap was small enough that the yams were pretty much spared. They are now souvenirs for the time being. I may use them when I am nearing Master D, since I'll be stuck on Master E for a while.

Still, to think that it took me less than two years to reach Master E rank...that's historic. When this Double EXP/Double Pang weekend began, I was 3,000 EXP away from moving up. That was a margin I could make up quickly, since Hana Classic, or, rather, Madoka, has the Cayman SR card and Puff. I could have reached Master E through Weekend EXP boost GP Event tourneys, but I didn't play enough of them. But I did cut into the margin.

I don't know what I will do now at this point regarding Pangya. It looks like now I will have time to do some real world work, maybe some dynasty writing, definitely the grind for FanSided, a doctor's appointment there...The only thing needed now for either Lucia, Madoka or Hana R to complete the character mastery is to secure 100 Tiki Points. I also want Kooh to be on the cusp of that, but she only has 100 games down.

But now that I am now a Master rank, I will allow my alt to finally beat me at some matches, if it happens. It's already been a punching bag long enough. My alt account, which has an S-ranked DuoStar Manapikal Club Set, a Promise Ring and all character remodels reaching 500 games each, is due to have the tables turned. It's now a Pro A and is also about one-sixth of the way towards becoming a National Pro. Not too long ago my main account was a National Pro. Those were the days.

And as a result of my move up, the IGN of Homuhomu2093 is history. Permanently retired. I was/am known as Bongaboi on deviantART, tumblr, the GameRage forums, and now I am known as Bongaboi in-game. A whole lot simpler and more professional. Sort of. This is the IGN that I will use on the long road to becoming a Legend and making Golden Papel my main caddie. (Unless Black Papel or both Elly and Tory arrive before he does, and they have plenty of time.) And it's going to be a fun one.

Out Of Touch.

Shake it up is all that we know

Using the bodies up as we go

I'm waking up to fantasy

The shades all around

Aren't the colors we used to see

Broken ice still melts in the sun

And times that are broken

Can often be one again

We're soul alone

And soul really matters to me...

Take a look around.

You're out of touch

I'm out of time (time)

But I'm out of my head

When you're not around

You're out of touch

I'm out of time (time)

But I'm out of my head

When you're not around

Oh, oh-oh, oh

Oh, oh-oh, oh

Reaching out for something to hold

Looking for a love

Where the climate is cold

Manic moves and drowsy dreams

Or living in the middle

Between the two extremes

Smoking guns hot to the touch

Would cool down

If we didn't use them so much

We're soul alone

And soul really matters to me...

Too much.

You're out of touch

I'm out of time (time)

But I'm out of my head

When you're not around

You're out of touch

I'm out of time (time)

But I'm out of my head

When you're not around

Oh, oh-oh, oh

Oh, oh-oh, oh...

(Out of touch)

Out of touch...

You're out of touch

I'm out of time (time)

But I'm out of my head

When you're not around

You're out of touch

I'm out of time (time)

But I'm out of my head

When you're not around...

Mystery Of Being

In the mystery of being

Sometimes when it's not so easy seeing

Where you're going, what will be tomorrow

Wondering about the path to follow

In the darkness we bump into each other

And it's hard for me to call you brother

In my heart the questions are burning

Someone said the journey is the learning

If I could shine a light on where I'm going

If I could shine a light on what I'm doing

If I could find the love that might be freeing

In this mystery of being

In the mystery of living

Seems to me there's such a joy in giving

Without sadness how could there be elation

Feel my life is down to my creation

If I could shine a light on where I'm going

If I could shine a light on what I'm doing

If I could find the love that might be freeing

In this mystery of being...