After seven competitive and entertaining games, the Great Alaska Shootout finally got a stinker Friday night in the second semifinal of the evening.
The California Golden Bears put the hurt on Hawaii with a 72-56 rout, the largest margin of victory in any Shootout game this year, men's or women's.
The Bears will play Loyola Marymount in tonight's championship game at 9. Hawaii and Pacific go at 6 p.m. in the third place game.
Ryan Anderson led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds for Cal, but the Bears spread the scoring around. Three others also reached double figures in scoring -- Ayinde Ubaka (12), DeVon Hardin (11) and Omar Wilkes (10).
"Our key tonight was we got off to a good start," Cal head coach Ben Braun said.
The story of the game, though, was the defensive job the Bears did on Hawaii's leading scorer Matt Lojeski, who entered the game averaging more than 18 points a game.
"He's a good player," Braun said. "You have to go after good players. We did a good job getting out to the shooters."
Lojeski was held scoreless in the first half and finished with seven. Ahmet Gueye led the Rainbow Warriors with 14 points. Domini Waters added 10 off the bench.
"That's my job, to come in and provide energy," Waters said. "We didn't take it to them. We weren't consistent."
A pair of big runs by the Bears turned the first half into a rout. A 14-0 spurt turned a 4-2 deficit into a 16-4 lead, and an 11-3 roll expanded the advantage further.
"We're a really good team when we're out in transition," Anderson said;
It was a reversal of fortune of sorts for Hawaii, which jumped out to a 25-0 lead on Oregon State just a few days ago.
Cal led 37-24 at the intermission.
"Tonight's exhibition was not the Rainbow Warriors we normally put on the floor," Hawaii assistant coach Bob Nash said. "They hit us with their transition game early, and we were sluggish getting back on D."
Early in the half it was the Omar Wilkes Show. The 6-4 junior had three driving layups in a four-possession stretch as Cal was able to repeatedly get the ball inside.
Later it was Anderson's turn as he connected from outside and scored seven first-half points. For Hawaii, it was a miserable 20 minutes filled with turnovers and poor shooting.
The Warriors had seven turnovers and only 11 field goals, shooting a paltry 35.5 percent from the field compared to 53.6 percent for Cal.
Gueye had eight points in the half on 4 of 10 shooting.
Hawaii made a couple of bids to get back into the game, closing to within eight points at 43-35 early in the second half.
But an 8-0 Cal run put the Warriors in another big hole. Again Hawaii scratched its way back to within seven points with about eight minutes left.
"When we ran our sets, we got back in the game," Nash said.
But the Bears finally delivered the knockout blow with a 12-2 run to go up 17 with about four minutes left.
That was enough to send most of the Sullivan Arena crowd to the exits.
HAWAII (56) -- Gueye 7-15 0-0 14; Waters 3-6 2-2 10; Follmer 5-7 0-1 10; Lojeski 3-10 0-0 7; Gibson 2-5 0-0 5; Wilder 1-1 0-0 3; Nash 1-6 1-2 3; Verwers 1-2 0-0 2; Owsley 1-5 0-0 2;Veit 0-0 0-0 0; Luettgerodt 0-2 0-0 0; Dillinger 0-0 0-0 0; Jackson 0-0 0-0 0; Lowenthal 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-59 3-5 56.
CALIFORNIA (72) -- Anderson 7-15 2-2 18; Ubaka 4-10 2-2 12; Hardin 4-8 3-4 11; Wilkes 5-7 0-0 10; Christopher 4-6 0-0 9; Randle 2-6 1-1 5; Robertson 1-6 0-0 3; Harrison 0-2 2-2 2; Pribble 0-0 2-2 2; Vierneisel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-60 12-13 72.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 5-15 (Waters 2-4; Gibson 1-3; Lojeski 1-4; Wilder 1-1; Nash 0-3), California 6-15 (Ubaka 2-4; Anderson 2-6; Robertson 1-2; Christopher 1-1; Randle 0-1; Wilkes 0-1). Fouled out -- None. Rebounds -- Hawaii 31 (Gueye 6), California 37 (Anderson 11). Assists -- Hawaii 20 (Lojeski 10), California 16 (Ubaka 6). Total fouls -- Hawaii 14, California 12. Technical fouls -- None. A -- 6,061
Hawaii 24 32 -- 56
California 37 35 -- 72
