DENVER — Even in his "One Shining Moment" during college basketball's Big Dance, Derrick Low did not forget the ones who brung him.

Low, a 2004 'Iolani School graduate from Honolulu and senior guard for Washington State, has the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen to look forward to on Thursday, but he first took time to quickly reflect on how he got here.

"I can't do anything but reminisce about all the things that had to do with growing up, the things that got me to this point," Low said in the Pepsi Center locker room last night, shortly after scoring a game-high 18 points in the Cougars' 61-41 victory over Notre Dame. "Going to Dennis Agena's (Kalakaua Foundation) clinic, dedicating every Sunday to work on my dribbling ... to sacrificing going to the beach in order to try and study so I could get into 'Iolani and get a good education ... meeting 'Doc' (Mark Mugiishi) and him helping me out a lot ... to my dad doing everything for me, taking me to wherever I needed to go and just working me out every time, being the hammer ... to making it to Washington State, and suffering through all the ups and downs the first couple years ...

"To see where all of this has gotten me, that's just so exciting."

Low said what made yesterday's historic victory — making him the first player from Hawai'i ever to advance to the Sweet Sixteen — even more special was having many of his close family and friends in attendance.

Among his personal cheering section sitting about 10 rows behind the Cougars bench were father Ken, older brother Dustin, youth coach Clyde Hirata, high school coach Mugiishi and 'Iolani assistant coach Dean Shimamoto.

"It was great," Low said. "It was awesome that they were all there to experience this and share this with me. It was all the people who were important to me, they were here for this special experience."

As Low and the other Washington State starters were substituted for and headed to the bench with 1:38 remaining and the score 61-39, they received a standing ovation from the crimson-clad Cougar section of about 700.

Low said he did not look up to his personal cheering section then — the players on the bench all gave the starters high-fives — but did sneak a peak after doing a radio interview right after the game.

"I got a glance after the interview, while I was walking back to the bench," Low said. "I looked up there, and coach Clyde was going like this ..."

Low then put up both hands, forming a double shaka.

Read Wes' blog on prep sports at http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.