Cotton leads Hawaii men's basketball to rout of UT Rio Grande Valley

Nov. 25—PALM DESERT, Calif. — Matthue Cotton buried five 3s in the first half and put down two dunks after the intermission in the Hawaii basketball team's 76-57 victory over UT Rio Grande Valley in today's opening round of the Acrisure Invitational.

Cotton, who transferred from Yale this summer, amassed a team-high 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including 5-for-7 from behind the arc.

Co-captain Noel Coleman scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half.

The 'Bows raced to a 43-23 lead in the first half. They had eight fast-break points to the Vaqueros' zero in the first 20 minutes.

After being held to 2 points in the first half, UTRGV's Elijah Elliott finished with 18 points, matching his season average.