GAME NOTES: The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and the East Carolina Pirates will clash Wednesday at the Gulf Coast Showdown in a non-conference battle for fifth place at Germain Arena.

Hawaii sits on a 5-2 record on the season, and earned a spot in the winners consolation game after the team took down Marist, 62-55, Tuesday. The Warriors picked up the win one day after dropping the opening-round contest to San Francisco.

East Carolina hung on to beat Fresno State, 58-52, on Tuesday to advance to the fifth-place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase. The Pirates rebounded from a 66-49 defeat just a day earlier against Green Bay to take down the Bulldogs.

This contest will mark the first-ever meeting between Hawaii and East Carolina on the basketball floor.

The win for Hawaii over Marist sunk the Red Foxes down to 0-4 on the season, and gave the Warriors their fifth win already of the young campaign, which started less than two weeks ago. Hawaii shot a respectable 45.3 percent from the floor in the game, and the defense did its part by holding Marist to 32.1 percent shooting in the contest. Garrett Nevels led Hawaii with 18 points in the win, while Aaron Valdes tallied a double-double with 10 points and 16 rebounds. Mike Thomas narrowly missed out on a double-double of his own, netting eight points with 10 boards.

Coming into Tuesday's game against the Red Foxes, Valdes led the Rainbow Warriors with a 15.7 ppg average, which was good for tops on the team. Though with his 18-point effort on Tuesday, Nevels may be challenging for the distinction of top scorer, as he entered the contest with Marist netting 10.7 ppg. Hawaii dipped below its 74.5 ppg average with the 62-point effort against Marist, but the team exceeded its 34.5 rpg mark by grabbing 42 boards Tuesday.

East Carolina jumped ahead of Fresno State early, and held an nine-point lead over the Bulldogs at halftime of Tuesday's contest. Though Fresno State rallied a bit in the second half, the Pirates were able to fend off the complete comeback attempt by shooting 43.2 percent from the field in the game. B.J. Tyson netted 22 points and went a perfect 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, and Caleb White contributed 16 points in the win. Michael Zangari notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for ECU.

Thanks to the 22-point outburst, Tyson overtook White as the team's leading scorer through five games this season, as the freshman now enters Wednesday's game with a 14.8 ppg mark. But White isn't far off at all, netting 14.4 ppg through five games. Terry Whisnant checks in with 13.6 ppg for the Pirates, who are scoring 75.4 ppg this season and allowing opponents to score 66.6 ppg. Forward Marshall Guilmette is still out for the Pirates with a strained hip, which means his 12.0 ppg average sits the bench with him.

Both teams did well to rebound from tough losses on Monday that sent them to the consolation bracket, but each side needs to develop a bit more scoring going forward. East Carolina has already hit a bit of the injury bug, which could sink the Pirates in Wednesday's game against the Warriors.