Tiebreaker Scenarios for UH-Hilo Basketball

UH-Hilo guard Vanessa Mancera dribbles against Point Loma Nazarene on Tuesday. UH-Hilo photo.

Clinching a spot in next week’s PacWest Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments is not as simple as just winning on Saturday over Azusa Pacific University.

The University of Hawai’i at Hilo will need some help along the way in order to get a spot in the six-team tournament, held next week in Irvine, Calif.

On the women’s side, UH-Hilo will need to defeat Azusa Pacific, ranked 17th in the USA Today Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll, but will also need Chaminade to defeat Point Loma Nazarene to complete the postseason scenario.

Both games tip-off at 5 p.m.

The scenarios are much more complicated on the men’s side. Currently, five teams are in the running for one playoff spot. Four of those teams, including UH-Hilo, have 9-10 conference records.

The following scenarios would get the University of Hawai’i at Hilo into the PacWest Tournament:

• If UH-Hilo and Dominican both win on Saturday and are the only ones at 10-10, the Vulcans would advance based on its tiebreaker, an 86-76 win over the Penguins on Dec. 1
• If UH-Hilo and Chaminade or Fresno Pacific both win on Saturday and are the only ones at 10-10, the Vulcans would advance based on a descending record tiebreaker.
• If UH-Hilo, Chaminade, and Dominican win on Saturday and are the only ones at 10-10, the Vulcans would advance based on a head-to-head tiebreaker. UH-Hilo went 2-1 against the other two teams, while Chaminade was 2-2 and Dominican was 1-2.

UH-Hilo will face Azusa Pacific, who has received votes but sits outside the NABC Division II Men’s Basketball Top 25 poll. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Both UH-Hilo games will air on ESPN Radio stations AM 850 in Hilo and AM 790 in Kona. It will also be available at ESPNHawaii.com and the ESPN Radio app.

PacWest Conference women’s basketball standings

Conference standings in parenthesis next to overall record

*California Baptist 26-1 (18-1)

*Azusa Pacific 24-3 (18-1)

*Academy of Art 22-7 (17-2)

*Hawai’i Pacific 16-10 (13-6)

*Dominican 16-10 (12-7)

Point Loma Nazarene 18-9 (11-8)

Hawai’i-Hilo 10-14 (10-9)

BYU-Hawai’i 11-13 (8-11)

Dixie State 8-17 (8-11)

^Holy Names 8-19 (7-12)

Chaminade 5-18 (5-14)

Fresno Pacific 5-20 (3-16)

Notre Dame de Namur 3-24 (2-17)

^Concordia 2-22 (1-18)

PacWest Conference men’s basketball standings

Conference standings in parenthesis next to overall record

^Concordia 22-5 (15-4)

*California Baptist 23-6 (14-5)

*Azusa Pacific 20-7 (14-5)

*Dixie State 17-8 (14-5)

*Hawai’i Pacific 18-8 (13-6)

*BYU-Hawai’i 14-10 (11-8)

Fresno Pacific 13-12 (9-10)

Dominican 13-13 (9-10)

Chaminade 11-15 (9-10)

Hawai’i-Hilo 9-14 (9-10)

Point Loma Nazarene 13-13 (8-11)

Academy of Art 5-20 (3-16)

^Holy Names 4-23 (3-16)

Notre Dame de Namur 3-23 (2-17)

*- Clinched a berth in the PacWest Tournament

^- Does not qualify for postseason play