After having its fill of sticky Rice, the Hawai‘i men’s basketball team broke free for a 61-53 victory last night.
The Rainbows outscored the Owls, 18-10, in the game’s final five minutes to win for the sixth consecutive time in the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawai‘i improved to 12-12 overall and 6-7 in the Western Athletic Conference, and avenged a loss to the Owls at Houston last month.
"I thought we executed well," Hawai‘i coach Riley Wallace said. "We got the tough baskets when they were playing good defense."
On a night when baskets were few and far between, the Rainbows turned to their motion-oriented offense late in the game to hold off the feisty Owls.
"I think we finally woke up," said Hawai‘i center Troy Ostler, who scored a team-high 19 points. "We were all in a daze there for a while."
In truth, neither team shot particularly well last night. The Rainbows converted 41 percent of their shots (19-of-46), and were only two of 11 from 3-point range. The Owls made only 15 of 48 field goals for a .313 percentage.
"They make you play that way," Wallace said of the Owls’ deliberate style. "But I like what we did."
In particular, Hawai‘i broke from a 43-43 tie late in the game with a series of "back door" baskets that ultimately slammed the Owls shut. Forward Phil Martin, guard Predrag Savovic and Ostler all scored off easy layups behind the Rice defense during a 10-2 run that put Hawai‘i in control, 53-45, with 1:28 remaining.
"We did a great job for most of the game, but we fell asleep mentally at the end," said Rice guard Mike Wilks, who scored a game-high 21 points. "They got some backdoors that really hurt us."
Wallace said the plays were open most of the game, but it took a stern lecture during a timeout for the Rainbows to execute the offense down the stretch.
"We weren’t making our cuts (to the basket) quick enough," Wallace said. "We were kind of sluggish in it, and that’s one of the things we kept pushing in the huddle. Everybody started picking it up at the end."
Mike McIntyre, who started for the second consecutive game in place of injured David Hilton, added: "Everybody was cutting. Nobody was thinking about taking jump shots. Everybody was thinking about getting high percentage shots."
The Rainbows led by as many as 11 during a sloppy first half before settling for a 26-22 advantage at halftime. Rice scored the first six points of the second half to take a momentary 28-26 advantage. The game was eventually tied, 43-43, with 5:38 remaining before the late Rainbow surge.
Savovic added 18 points, five rebounds, and four assists for the Rainbows. McIntyre chipped in 12 points, and Nerijus Puida grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
Wilks, who entered the game as the WAC’s second-leading scorer with an average of 20.3 points per game, converted just five of his 20 shots while being guarded primarily by McIntyre.
"We can’t be a one-man team," Rice coach Willis Wilson said. "We’ve got to get more guys involved in the offense."
Hawai‘i, which remained in sixth place in the nine-team WAC, will play its final regular-season home game against Texas Christian on Thursday.
