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Vulcans advance to regional semifinals

Osadonor Esene scored a team-high 21 points to lead the University of Hawaii-Hilo men's basketball team (25-3) to a 83-81 win over Chico State (18-10) yesteday in the first round of the NCAA II West Regional in Bellingham, Wash.

The win marked the first time ever that the second seeded Vulcans had won a game in the regionals. They advanced to the regional semifinal today against No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona at 3 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time.

The Vulcans accumulated a 41-33 lead by half time, though the Wildcats tightened things up in the beginning of the second half.

"I thought we played decently even though we hadn't played for two weeks," UHH coach Jeff Law said. "It took us a little while to get started."

Western Washington downs BYUH » Senior Jake Chrisman closed out his career at Brigham Young University-Hawaii (16-9) with a 28-point performance as the Seasiders fell 80-69 to host and No. 1 seed Western Washington (22-6).

Austin Smylie posted a double-double, adding 14 points and 17 rebounds for the Seasiders.

Bautista brings down Phosuwangym

World Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific champion Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista stopped Aree Phosuwangym in the main event of a boxing show at the Blaisdell Arena last night.

Bautista dropped Phosuwangym at 1:45 in the fifth round, the only time a fighter hit the canvas.

Local boxers Dustin Kim and Sitafine Talosaga both lost on the undercard.

Kim (19-6) lost by a split decision to Pedro Mora (8-11) of Mexico while Talosaga's (3-1) corner threw in the towel in the third round against Lee Martin (4-1).

Harvey Nakamoto of Aiea beat Hanson Montyre of Kalihi by decision in the pro debut for both fighters.

Hartley pushes Huang to second

Blythe Hartley of USC beat Hawaii diver Quiongjie Huang in the 1-meter springboard at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships yesterday at Oklahoma City.

Rui Wang finished ninth for UH and Miranda Maas came in 19th.

Rainbow Warrior divier Justin Wilcox was 15th in the men's 3-meter springboard. The Warriors also learned that swimmers Chad Thomsen and Thomas Winkler earned spots in the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championship March 24-26.

Huang beat Hartley, a 2-time NCAA champion, in the 3-meter event Friday.

Huang, Wang and Maas will compete in platform diving today.

HPU drops doubleheader to Owls

Kennesaw State defeated the Hawaii Pacific softball team 9-0 and 4-2, in a pair of games yesterday in Waipio.

The Sea Warriors dropped to 10-6 on the season, while the Owls improved to 22-4.

Owls Jennifer Nolan went 1-for-4 with four RBIs and a home run to lead Kennesaw State to a six-inning shutout of HPU. In the second game, Dayna Berry pitched seven innings, giving up four runs in the loss.