Nash fired as UH basketball coach

By Fred Guzman

MauiNow.com

The season is over for the UH men’s basketball team. And so is Bob Nash’s three-year stint as head coach.

University of Hawaii Athletic Director Jim Donovan announced Monday that Nash will not be retained despite have one year left on his contract.

The Bows were relegated to the WAC cellar and eliminated from the conference tournament, by suffering back-to-back losses at Boise State on Thursday and on Saturday at Idaho, 78-69, despite an inspired 29-point effort by Roderick Flemings in his final game in a UH uniform.

UH closed the season with records of 10-20 overall and 3-13 in the WAC. It is widely speculated that Nash will not return despite having one season left on his contract.

A popular pick to succeed Riley Wallace enjoyed a storied playing career as a member of Hawaii’s Fabulous Five. After playing pro ball for five years, he served as a longtime assistant at his alma mater, But Nash struggled in the role of head coach, his teams struggling to a combined mark of 34-56.

VOLLEYBALL: The eighth-ranked UH men split a pair of weekend matches at Cal State Northridge, losing in five games on Friday and following that up with a sweep of the Matadors on Saturday. The Bows are 11-6 overall and 7-5 in the conference as they conclude a challenging road trip with matches at USC today and Tuesday.

BASEBALL: The Bows evened their season record at 6-6 by routing The Citadel 13-1 to split a four-game series. UH next hosts USC in a four-game set that begins Friday.

PREP HOOPS: It was more of the same old, same old at the state basketball tourney. Teams from the powerful ILH continued to flourish, while teams from the MIL, for the most part, continued to struggle.

In Saturday’s all-ILH Division-I final, Kainoa Chu hit a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left, lifting Iolani to a 46-43 win over Kamehameha-Kapalama before a raucous crowd of 5,407 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Chu finished with 27 points, and finished off a Kamehameha team that was playing its ninth game in two weeks.

In D-II, Pahoa of the Big Island won its first-ever state title by defeating Kailua 41-38 behind freshman Nick Fisher’s 17 points.

The MIL’s three qualifiers posted a combined record of 2-5.

Kamehameha-Maui provided the only bright spots for the MIL, going 2-1 and finishing seventh. The Warriors opened with a 59-45 loss to Punahou, but rebounded for consolation bracket wins of 63-54 against Campbell 63-54 and 53-43 over Waiakea behind Tyler Hilsabeck’s 24 points.

Things didn’t go as well for the MIL’s two title teams.

Lahainaluna, seeded fourth in D-I, opened with a 65-62 quarterfinal loss to Kahuku and was ousted following a 73-62 loss to Mililani.

Seabury Hall, seeded second in D-II, also went two-and-out. The Spartans suffered a 60-57 overtime setback to Academy of the Pacific in the quarters and were eliminated, 72-64, by St. Joseph. Michael Palmer had 50 points in two games for Seabury.

(Placeholder image courtesy: University of Hawaii)