Colorado State hands UH its first loss, 61-59

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

HILO — Savo-less syndrome finally caught up to the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team last night.

Falling into a second-half offensive funk, the Rainbow Warriors fell to Colorado State, 61-59, in the semifinals of the Big Island Invitational. A crowd of 687 at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium watched the 'Bows lose their first game of the season after three consecutive victories.

Hawai'i led by as many as 16 early in the second half, and had a 59-58 lead in the game's final minute. Colorado State won it on an unexpected drive to the basket by forward Brian Greene. He got a twisting shot to fall through the hoop as he was fouled with seven seconds remaining to put the Rams ahead, 60-59. His subsequent free throw provided the final margin.

Hawai'i's Paul Jesinskis had an open baseline shot from 15 feet, but the ball bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded to end the game.

"They executed and we didn't," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "And we played tired. We didn't play through the wall."

Instead, the 'Bows ran smack-dab into it.

After taking a 42-28 lead at halftime on 56 percent shooting (15-of-27), Hawai'i lost the advantage by shooting 26 percent (5-of-19) in the second half. In the final 20 minutes, the 'Bows were outscored 33-17 and out-rebounded 23-6.

"I don't know what happened," UH senior captain Mindaugas Burneika said. "We couldn't run any offense. Everything went wrong offensively and defensively. It's not so much they won. We lost it."

Hawai'i once again played without three players still under NCAA investigation, including Predrag Savovic, last season's leading scorer. He has yet to play a game this season while awaiting a decision from the NCAA.

"We're playing basically six guys," Wallace said. "It cost us, and we knew it would sooner or later."

Hawai'i will have to play without them again today in the third-place game against Wisconsin at 2 p.m. Colorado State will play for the championship against Weber State at 4:30 p.m.

Colorado State earned its place in the final game by employing a Ram-tough man-to-man defensive scheme in the second half that forced the 'Bows into difficult shots.

"Our intensity was just a lot higher," Colorado State head coach Dale Layer said. "When you play like that, good things happen."

The Rams caught Hawai'i with a stunning 9-minute, 20-second stretch midway through the second half. Colorado State went on an 18-0 surge during that span, turning a 49-34 deficit into a 52-49 lead with 7:08 remaining.

Hawai'i went 12 consecutive possessions without scoring during that time. The drought ended on a desperation 3-point shot by Carl English as the shot clock was expiring.

"They just put a little more pressure on us," UH point guard Mark Campbell said. "It was a straight (man-to-man), no gimmicks. We just didn't perform."

Defense wasn't the only key to Colorado State's rally. Andy Birley, a 6-foot-4 guard, scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the second half on 5-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

"Carl English played as bad as you can play defensively," Wallace said. "He has to get up over those picks because (Birley) can shoot 3s ... (English) ran into the pick every time."

The first half was a different story, as Hawai'i connected on 6 of 11 3-point shots. Of the 'Bows' 15 field goals in the first half, 13 came off assists. They added just two assists in the second half.

"First half was decent, second half was pitiful," said Jesinskis, who came off the bench to score 10 points in the first half, but zero in the second half.

But as Campbell noted: "As bad as we were playing, we were still in the game at the end."

Burneika's short bank shot off a Campbell assist put UH ahead, 59-58, with 1:15 remaining. After a Colorado State turnover, the 'Bows had possession with 56 seconds remaining. However, they let the 35-second shot clock expire, giving possession back to the Rams with 20 seconds.

Greene's winning shot "was not the first option, but it was certainly an option," said Layer. Greene finished with five points and played with a wrap around his sprained right thumb.

As has been the case all season without Savovic, Hawai'i featured a balanced scoring attack. English led five players in double-figures with 13. The others were Burneika (12), Haim Shimonovich (10), Mike McIntyre (10) and Jesinskis (10).

• LSU 64, Hawai'i-Hilo 62: A four-minute meltdown at the end of the game sent the Vulcans to their 23rd consecutive loss in the tournament, a streak dating to 1994.

UHH led 29-27 at halftime, and stayed in control for most of the second half. With 7:41 remaining in the game, the Vulcans held their biggest lead of the game, 54-46.

Scott Prather's 3-pointer with 4:01 remaining gave UHH a 62-56 lead, but those would be the Vulcans' final points.

"This one was there for us," UHH head coach Jeff Law said. "This one is tough to take because of the way we finished."

LSU's Antonio Hudson scored on a short jump shot to tie the score at 62 with 26 seconds left. After a UHH turnover, Ronald Dupree broke free for a dunk that gave the Tigers the lead with nine seconds remaining.

UHH's Brady Hyde missed a desperation 3-pointer as time expired.

"We wanted to go to the hole and at least get to the free throw line," Law said of his team's possessions in the closing minutes. "Guys not taking care of the ball and getting out of position and not making smart passes, that's not what we wanted to do."

Dupree led LSU (3-1) with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Hudson added 16 points. LSU will play Mercer for the consolation title today at 11:30 a.m.

Prather led the Vulcans (2-2) with 18 points, while David LaQua added 15. UHH, the only NCAA Division II team in the field, will play South Carolina State for seventh place at 9 a.m.

• Weber State 73, Wisconsin 69: Jermaine Boyette, who missed almost the entire opening-round game with a sprained ankle, scored all 18 of his points over the final 14:12 to lead Weber State (3-1) over Wisconsin (1-2) in a semifinal game.

Boyette gave the Wildcats the lead for good at 63-61 on a jumper with 3:47 to play.

• Mercer 72, S. Carolina St. 61: Scott Emerson returned after missing two games with an ankle injury and had 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead Mercer (1-3) over South Carolina State (0-3) in the consolation bracket.

Emerson looked fine yesterday, hitting a 3-pointer 14 seconds into the game. His fastbreak layup with 8:15 left gave Mercer the lead for good at 54-53 and he later converted a rebound and scored on a baseline drive on consecutive possessions to make it 63-55 with 3:47 left.

The Associated Press contributed to this report