Todd Lowenthal seems to make a lot of right decisions, and he thinks he made another one by committing to play for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.

Lowenthal, a 6-foot-2 point guard, said yesterday he will sign a letter of intent to play for the Rainbow Warriors next season.

"I feel like Hawai'i is the best fit for me," he said. "They have a good mixture of half-court offense and transition, and that's how I like to play."

Lowenthal averaged 21.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game as a senior at Poway High School in San Diego. He was a first-team All-Palomar League selection as a sophomore, junior and senior.

He said he will sign an official letter of intent with Hawai'i during the "late" signing period, which begins April 12.

"He's the best ball-handler I've seen for his age group; he has a natural command of the ball and is deceptively quick," Poway head coach Kyle Armstrong said. "Mix that with an incredible ability to shoot off the dribble or off screens, and he's definitely a (NCAA) Division I point guard."

Poway had a 12-14 record this season, and Armstrong said Lowenthal often had to play different positions to help the team produce points.

"He was our primary point guard, but he was also our primary scorer, so when we needed him to take more shots, we took him off the point," Armstrong said. "He can shoot it effectively from 20 feet away, or he can take it to the rim."

Lowenthal is also a straight-A student with a 4.03 grade point average. He applied to several Ivy League schools, including Penn and Princeton.

"He's the picture of a student-athlete," Armstrong said. "Hawai'i is getting a good one, I know that."

Lowenthal visited Hawai'i earlier this month, and then canceled a visit to St. John's of the Big East Conference. Among the other schools recruiting him were Stanford, Creighton, Pacific, San Diego State and Tulsa.

"I'm not a cold-weather person, and so I wasn't sure about the weather in New York (where St. John's is located)," he said. "If there's a place that's going to have better weather than San Diego, it's Hawai'i."

Lowenthal made an oral commitment in September to attend the University of San Diego, but later decided he wanted to visit other schools.

"San Diego is right here for us, and it was his first trip and he wasn't sure how the whole process worked and so he was kind of pressured into making that decision," said his father, Ken Lowenthal. "But we're glad he changed his mind, because that opened things up again and allowed him to look at places outside of San Diego."

Lowenthal, who is 185 pounds, said he trains regularly with Marv Marinovich, a well-known fitness expert and the father of former NFL quarterback Todd Marinovich.

Lowenthal said he also plays one-on-one with his older brother, Brett, who was a walk-on player at Cal.

"Ever since we were kids we've been playing in the driveway," Todd said. "He's 6-6, so he made it tough on me, but I think that made me better."

Lowenthal is now one of the candidates to replace Deonte Tatum, last season's starting point guard for the 'Bows. Tatum is one of four departing seniors.

Dominic Waters, who will be a sophomore next season, is also expected to challenge for the starting point guard spot. Hiram Thompson, a freshman reserve point guard last season, is expected to begin a two-year mission for the Mormon church this summer.

Hawai'i signed Alex Veit, a 6-8 forward at Monterey Peninsula College (Calif.), during the "early" signing period.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.