LIHUE, Hawaii (UNLVRebels.com) – Junior Ben Sawaia shot a team-best 3-under to lead UNLV men's golf on the individual leaderboard in Thursday's start of play at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, which is being hosted by the University of Hawai'i at Ocean Course at Hokuala (Par 72 - 7,156 yards). With heavy rain projected in the weekend's forecast, all teams began the second round of competition in the afternoon.

Sawaia, who finished the first round at 1-under 70, opened the second round at two-under through 11 holes to move up to a tie for 22nd before action was halted. Leading all individuals on the first day, Long Beach State's Ian Gilligan is in first at 11-under, while New Mexico's Bastien Amat (-10) is in second, BYU's Keanu Akina (-9) and David Timmins (-8) are in third and fourth place, respectively, to find themselves ahead of six other players in a tie for fifth (-7).

The team leader through the beginning of competition is BYU at 23-under with a one-shot advantage over Arizona (-22) in second. The Cougars and Wildcats are followed by New Mexico (-14) in third, UTEP (-12) in fourth and Texas A&M (-11) in fifth.

Freshman Inigo Izuzquiza (-1) is tied for 39th competing as an individual and senior Yuki Moriyama is tied for 52nd (E) to land just behind Sawaia in the Rebel team scoring. Junior Caden Fioroni (+6) in 108th, freshman Brett Sawaia (+7) in a tie for 109th and senior George Leigh (+9) in a tie for 118th closed the Scarlet & Gray's scorecard for the day.

NEXT FOR THE REBELS: The tournament picks back up on Friday with the remaining holes to be played for the second round.