FULLERTON, CA -- Hawai'i hit its first six shots of the game to jump out to a 14-1 lead and never really cooled off Saturday night in rolling to a 91-70 Big West Conference victory at Cal State Fullerton.

Garrett Nevels scored 16 points and four teammates also were in double figures as the Rainbow Warriors (20-12, 8-8) locked up fifth place in the Big West standings to set up a match with fourth-place Long Beach State in the opening round of the conference tournament Thursday at Honda Center in Anaheim.

Ninth-place Fullerton (9-22, 1-15) lost its ninth consecutive game and will not qualify for the tourney for only the fourth time in its 40-year history.  Senior Alex Harris led the Titans with 15 points on senior night.  Lanerryl Johnson added 12 points and senior Steve McClellan had 11 points.  Kennedy Esume scored 10 points and he and McClellan had 6 rebounds.

Stefan Jovanovic had 15 points and Aaron Valdes added 12 plus a game-high 9 rebounds for the 'Bows, who are 6-0 against Fullerton in their three seasons in the conference. 

Hawai'i shot 56 percent from the floor and made 7 of 19 3-point attempts.  It's the highest field goal percentage alllowed by Fullerton this season.

Fullerton missed its first six shots and never caught up but got within 39-36 in the opening minute of the second half.   Hawai'i responded with an 11-0 run sparked by 6 points from Nevels.  Harris and Johnson countered with a pair of treys in a span of 9 seconds to make it 50-42 but Isaac Fleming made a layup and Nevels hit another trey and Hawai'i pulled away to a lead as big as 25 points.

Fullerton was bogged down by 18 turnovers, one shy of a season high.

"Hawai'i is a very good basketball team -- they had 19 assists and moved the ball well," said Fullerton Coach Dedrique Taylor.   "Every time we made a little run they answered in a huge fashion, either a 3-pointer or a dunk.

"From this season we mostly learned what we are not.  We need to learn team discipline and toughness in crucial situations."

Harris wrapped up his career as Fullerton's No. 12 all-time scorer with 1,196 points.

"I was able to compete and learn how to be a leader this year.  We worked hard and believed no matter what," he said.  "We never learned to play 40 minutes... that was our team's downfall."

"We stayed together through the tough times," is what McClellan said he would take from this season.

Moses Morgan, Josh Gentry and Corey Walker are the other three seniors on the squad and they started the game along with Harris and McClellan.