Inspired Pacman eats up Hatton

Manny Pacquiao turned in perhaps the most dominating performance of his career last night, knocking Ricky Hatton down twice in the first round before finally stopping him with a ferocious left hand in the final seconds of the second round.

Pacquiao showed why he is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world with a stunning knockout that left Hatton lying motionless on his back in the middle of the ring.

Hatton had lost only once in his career, but he was no match for Pacquiao, who knocked him down midway through the first round and again toward the end of the round.

Hatton regrouped and made it through most of the second round before a chopping left hand sent him sprawling at 2:59 of the second round.

McKibbin sets USC to MPSF crown

Sophomore setter Riley McKibbin (Punahou '07) had 68 assists and 14 digs to help fifth-seeded USC to a 30-23, 30-25, 20-30, 26-30, 21-19 victory over second-seeded Pepperdine in yesterday's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball tournament.

Sophomore hitter Tri Bourne (AOP '07) added 10 kills and was in on five blocks for the Trojans (20-10). USC advances to the final four for the first time since 1991 and is seeking its first national title since 1990.

Patacchia, Barger win surfing titles

Hawaii's Fred Patacchia and Kai Barger claimed championships during their respective meets off San Clemente, Calif., yesterday.

Patacchia bested defending champion Ben Bourgeois 16.84-14.10 to win the 6.0 Lowers Pro, an ASP World Qualifying Series 6-star Prime event. Patacchia, ranked third on the ASP World Tour, earned a 9.17 out of 10 on his first wave.

Barger, the defending ASP world junior champion, won the ASP Grade-2 Oakley Pro Junior title in a very competitive final. He scored 18.60 out of 20 to finish ahead of Davey Cathels of Australia (16.13), California's Dillon Perillo (15.94) and Haleiwa's Kiron Jabour (15.33).

Wichmann takes javelin title for UH

Led by senior Annett Wichmann's gold-medal performance, Hawaii took three of the top four places in yesterday's javelin competition at the Steve Scott Invitational at Irvine, Calif.

Wichmann finished with a throw of 153 feet, 8 inches. Freshman Kai Schmidt was third at 133-8 and junior Lauren Cutler fourth at 130-8.

Masuda MPI girls basketball coach

Wes Masuda, who led the Mid-Pacific girls intermediate team to the league title, has been named the Owls varsity coach.

Masuda, the intermediate coach the past 17 years, replaces Byron Cheng.

Lumpkin on QB Club agenda

Hawaii assistant football coach George Lumpkin and Maryknoll president Perry Martin headline the speakers program at tomorrow's Honolulu Quarterback Club meeting at the Pagoda Hotel.

Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by the noon program. The event is open to the public.

PACWEST PLACE

Sea Warriors win softball title

Hawaii Pacific scored big in the last inning of both games against Hawaii-Hilo to sweep the PacWest softball doubleheader 7-2 and 6-2 at the UHH softball field.

The victories give the Sea Warriors (40-10, 20-4) the conference title by a game over Dixie State (36-10, 19-5). The Vulcans (26-22, 15-10) host HPU in a nonconference doubleheader today to conclude the regular season.

In the opener, Sherise Musquiz singled in two runs in the five-run ninth that gave HPU the win. In the second game, the Sea Warriors added three insurance runs in the seventh, two on Courtney Kessell's two-run single.

HPU will learn today if it will host an NCAA sub-regional.

Vulcans honor Smith, Seben

John Smith and Fabianne Seben were named the athletes of the year at Hawaii-Hilo's all-sports banquet this week.

Smith, s senior guard for the Vulcans men's basketball team, averaged 16.3 points en route to first-team All-PacWest honors.

Seben, a junior middle, earned AVCA All-America honorable mention and was named all-region and All-PacWest.

The Academic Athletes of the Year were tennis players Laurent Colombo and Christie Pagatpatan. The women's volleyball team (21-7, 10-4) was honored as team of the year.