HONOLULU — Mike Caffey had 29 points and A.J. Spencer had 24 — both career highs — to lead Long Beach State over Hawaii 92-83 on Thursday night.
Caffey was 10 of 14 from the field, Spencer was 8 of 10, and the 49ers (8-12, 4-2 Big West Conference) moved into a three-way tie with UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara for first place in the Big West.
Caffey’s 3-pointer with 2:30 to go put the 49ers up by five and Tyler Lamb’s floater on the next LBSU possession extended the lead to 81-74 with 1:47 to go. Hawaii never got closer than five points from there.
The Warriors (14-6, 3-3) scored just enough to eclipse their 17th-ranked 82.7 points per game, but fell short of the 49ers by allowing LBSU to shoot 60 percent (33 of 55) from the field.
Christian Standhardinger and Garrett Nevels led Hawaii with 18 points each.
Women’s basketball
Five players scored in double-figures but it wasn’t enough for the Rainbow Wahine, who had a four-game winning streak snapped as they started on a four-game road trip with a 74-72 loss to Long Beach State.
Jade Wilson made a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left to give the 49ers (11-9, 3-3) the lead for good. Wilson led Long Beach (Calif.) with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Pua Kailiawa, a Ka’u High graduate, missed on potential a game-tying 3-pointer late in the game for UH.
Sydney Haydel led Hawaii (10-8, 4-2) with 16 points. Destiny King notched her first career double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds, AshleighKaraitiana added 14, while Morgan Mason and Briana Harris both chipped in with 10 apiece.
Volleyball
The Hawaii men made 13 service errors without an ace and hit only .192 in dropping a four-set match on the road to UC Santa Barbara, 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23.
Brook Sedore was efficient for the No. 11 Rainbow Warriors (5-3, 3-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) with 19 kills and a .333. attack percentage. Sinisa Zarkovic added 12 kills but had eight hitting errors.
Austin Kingi registered 13 kills and 10 digs for the No. 9 Gauchos (4-2, 2-3), who hit .208.
Water polo
Paula Chillida Esforzado exploded for a career-high six goals and the Rainbow Wahine opened their season with a 13-8 road victory against Santa Clara (Calif.).
Caity Lopes da Silva added a hat trick for UH, which scored the first eight goals of the game.
By Stephens Media Hawaii sources