BYUH, Hawai'i-Hilo in Division II regional

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

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NCAA Division II Basketball Championships West Region At Cannon Activities Center, La'ie Friday's games First round Game 1: No. 6 Hawai'i-Hilo (18-9) vs. No. 3 Humboldt State (Calif.), (22-5), noon Game 2: No. 7 Sonoma State (Calif.) (18-9) vs. No. 2 Cal State San Bernardino (21-6), 2:30 p.m. Game 3: No. 4 Cal Poly Pomona (20-7) vs. No. 5 Alaska Fairbanks (20-7), 6 p.m. Game 4: No. 1 Brigham Young-Hawai'i (19-3) vs. No. 8 Cal State Bakersfield (19-8), 8:30 p.m. Saturday's games Semifinals Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 5 p.m. Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7:30 p.m. Monday's game Championship Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 7 p.m. Elite 8 At The Lakeland Center, Lakeland, Fla. Quarterfinals on March 26 Semifinals on March 27 National championship March 29

Brigham Young-Hawai'i and Hawai'i-Hilo qualified for the NCAA Division II West Regional Basketball Tournament, which will be hosted by BYUH in La'ie on Friday, Saturday and Monday.

The 17th-ranked Seasiders (19-3) earned the right to host the tournament at the 4,500-seat Cannon Activities Center after finishing the season as the top team in the West region.

The Vulcans (18-9) finished sixth in the West region, and will participate in the postseason tournament for the first time since joining Division II in 1994-1995.

"It's a great opportunity for us, and for the state, to have the eight best Division II teams in the West region come over to Hawai'i," BYUH coach Ken Wagner said. "Previously, about two or three years ago, the NCAA had all their regionals determined by finances and other things like that. It was almost impossible to have a regional in Hawai'i."

UH-Hilo coach Jeff Law said the tournament will showcase two of the best teams in the Pacific West Conference in the Seasiders and the Vulcans, and provide media exposure to Hawai'i's Division II players.

"This is real good for the state of Hawai'i," said Law, a former UH-Manoa men's basketball assistant under Riley Wallace. "I hope high school coaches and kids can see this. Everybody knows about Riley and the Rainbows. They're on K5 (television) and all that. But there's some real good basketball out here with us, Hawai'i Pacific, Chaminade and Brigham Young-Hawai'i."

The tournament will feature some of the top players in the country, including BYUH's senior forward Alexus Foyle (27.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg), senior center Scott Salisbury (15.9 ppg, 10.5 rpg), and UH-Hilo's junior guard Ryan Abrahams (16.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg), junior forward Osadonor Esene (14.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and senior forward Kyle Bartholomew (11.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg).

Foyle leads the nation in scoring and is the reigning PacWest Player of the Year.

As for Salisbury, he's scheduled to play in his first game Friday since suffering a fractured larynx against HPU on Feb. 12. The Seasiders have gone 6-1 since Salisbury's injury with freshman Austin Smylie filling in.

"I'm ready to go," said Salisbury, who had played in every game since his freshman year at BYUH, a span of 98 consecutive games, good for second on the school's record list. "I feel as good as I have all year physical-wise. It's just a matter of making sure the psychological aspect is taken care of."

BYUH, the PacWest champion, has won 19 consecutive games at the Cannon Activities Center since last season. The Seasiders were 13-0 at home this season.

"It's more comfortable to play at home and our kids have played well here," Wagner said. "But we've had some awfully close games here, so we've been lucky. Anytime you get a winning streak you need a little luck and you also have to be good."

UH-Hilo, the runner-up in the PacWest, has already matched its best finish under fifth-year coach Law. This season, the Vulcans played one of their toughest schedules with four games against Division I teams — UH-Manoa, Utah State, Drake and Vermont. UH-Hilo beat Vermont and lost the other games.

Law, who spent eight seasons at UH-Manoa, called reaching the NCAA Tournament his best accomplishment as a head coach.

"It will probably be No. 1, but I hope there's a whole bunch more to come," Law said.

NOTES: General admission to the tournament is $5 per session, $15 for the whole tournament. Students (kindergarten through college with valid IDs) are $3 per session, $9 for the whole tournament. The first two games Friday count as one session, and the remaining two games count as another session. Saturday's semifinals count as one session, and Monday's final counts as another session. ... BYUH will host the tournament for the first time since joining the NCAA in 1998. ... BYUH played in the same postseason tournament last season in San Bernardino, Calif.