HONOLULU — Deontae Hawkins had 16 points and Illinois State scored 18 straight points in the second half to beat Hawaii 71-45 in the quarterfinals of the Diamond Head Classic on Thursday night.
HONOLULU — Deontae Hawkins had 16 points and Illinois State scored 18 straight points in the second half to beat Hawaii 71-45 in the quarterfinals of the Diamond Head Classic on Thursday night.
Phil Fayne scored 14 Madison Williams added 11 points for the Redbirds (7-3), who advanced to the semifinals to face San Francisco on Friday night. The Rainbow Warriors (4-6) will host Utah in the consolation bracket at 7:30 p.m.
Illinois State scored the first 10 points of the game and led the entire way. The Redbirds held Hawaii to 25.5 percent shooting and had their largest lead at 69-36.
The Rainbow Warriors closed within 14 on Brocke Stepteau’s 3-pointer with 15:10 left in the second half. That was Hawaii’s last field goal until Matthew Owies’ putback with 1:54 left ended a streak of 15 missed shots from the field.
Stepteau, Noah Allen and Gibson Johnson had 10 points each for Hawaii.