Rainbow Warriors men’s basketball team falls short at UC San Diego

The University of Hawaii basketball team made too many mistakes and not enough scoring runs in falling to UC San Diego 67-61 today in La Jolla, Calif.

The Tritons, who lost the first six games of this series, improved to 12-7 overall and 6-1 in the Big West. In the final season of a four-year transition to Division I, the Tritons are not eligible to compete in the postseason Big West Tournament in March. The Rainbow Warriors fell to 10-9 and 2-5.

The Tritons parlayed 20 UH turnovers, including 11 on steals, into 27 points.

The ’Bows relied exclusively on outside shooting early, taking a 15-11 lead with five 3s. Their first 2-point basket came on JoVon McClanahan’s jumper with 9:35 remaining in the half.

Led by Bryce Pope’s creative scoring, the Tritons closed the first half with a 19-2 run to expand their lead to 35-26 at the intermission.

The ’Bows scored 14 of the first 17 points of the second half to take a 40-38 lead. But UCSD’s Tyler McGhie scored the next six points — on a 3, a free throw and a hook shot — and the Tritons would not trail again.

Juan Munoz, making his first UH start, made five 3-point shots and finished with 21 points.