Game 1 semifinal round 5:00 p.m. Carver Gym #6 BYU-Hawaii vs. #2 CSU San Bernardino

BYU-Hawaii’s stars shined bright in game one of the West Regional semifinals Saturday evening at Carver Gym. The Seasiders had four players reach double digit scoring en route to an impressive 77-58 victory over second-seeded Cal State San Bernardino. The Seasiders will play fourth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona Monday for a chance to advance to the Elite Eight in Springfield, Mass.

The biggest story of the game was a 17 point effort by BYU-Hawaii’s junior guard Marques Whippey. In Thursday’s opening round win against third-seeded Seattle Pacific University Whippey scored 0 points on 0-5 shooting.

“I felt like I let the team down yesterday,” Whippey said. “I turned to my spiritual side last night and wanted to come out today and give it all I had today.”

Sophomore guard Tsung-Hsien “Jet” Chang and senior forward Lucas Alves impressed again. Chang poured in 19 points and Alves added 14. Seasider senior guard Virgil Buensuceso also gave BYU-Hawaii a lift contributing 16 points.

CSU San Bernardino fell behind early in the contest facing a 15-5 deficit at the 14:44 mark of the first half. The Coyotes could not concoct a successful offensive recipe to combat a fierce Seasider defense. CSU San Bernardino shot just 30 percent in the first half and suffered the consequences.

Coyote senior forward and leading scorer Bryan LeDuc came into the NCAA West Regional’s averaging 15 points per outing. For the second night in a row LeDuc’s performance was below his avaerage. After a 10 point game in the first round, LeDuc followed it up with eight points against BYU-Hawaii.

If the Coyotes had any shot of mounting a comeback, it went out the window when BYU-Hawaii went on a furious 12-0 run to close out the first half that gave the Seasiders a 39-22 lead heading into the break.

“We had to shoot the ball at a good clip and we had to take care of the basketball if we wanted to win,” CSU San Bernardino head coach Jeff Oliver said. “I think we had 23 turnovers which is the most we’ve had this season.”

BYU-Hawaii continued to pour it on after the break and increased their lead to 21 on an Alves layup. Hoping to stage a comeback, an athletic Coyote team went into its full court pressure as time started to become a factor. The pressure flustered BYU-Hawaii initially and their lead was cut to 14 points, but there was nothing CSU San Bernardino could do to overcome a determined BYU-Hawaii squad.

Bright spots for the Coyotes came from senior guard Corey Caston, who had 16 points and 4 assists in the losing effort and senior guard Tyson Lawrence, who added 12 points.

BYU-Hawaii’s  Whippey said he is excited about their championship game Monday and happy to be in Bellingham for an extra few days, despite the obvious negatives.
“I don’t really like the weather here,” Whippey said jokingly. “Last year’s loss [in the playoffs] let us learn from our mistakes, but we are happy to be here now.”

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