Shimonovich lifts 'Bows over Northwestern State

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

UH's Carl English tries to put up a shot between Northwestern State's Jerrold McRae, left, and D'or Fischer. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Shimonovich scored on a layup with 4.4 seconds remaining to give the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team a 60-58 victory over Northwestern State last night.

A crowd of 3,121 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Warriors improve to 5-1.

Shimonovich, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, registered career highs in points (16), rebounds (12) and blocked shots (5) to outplay Fischer, who finished with four points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Fischer, a 6-11 sophomore, recorded a statistical triple-double in the Demons' last game, and was among the nation's leaders in blocked shots.

"If it weren't for Haim doing what he did, we would have been in trouble," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "He went to the boards, got us some points, and made up for a lot of our mistakes."

Indeed, Shimonovich's heroics prevented the 'Bows from blowing a 14-point second-half lead.

Hawai'i seemed to be in control with a 55-41 lead and 8:50 remaining. But the Demons soon went on a 14-2 run to tie the score at 58, with Michael Byars-Dawson capping the run by hitting a 25-foot 3-pointer with 18.8 seconds remaining.

On UH's ensuing possession, point guard Mark Campbell drove through the center of the defense, drawing two defenders — including Fischer — toward him. Shimonovich took Campbell's pass and easily scored over a late-arriving Fischer.

"My game is to make the other players on the floor look better," said Campbell, who finished with two points and eight assists.

Added Wallace: "It's like I've been sitting here waiting on this guard my whole career. He'll run an offense down at the end of the game where we're not going to throw some wild jumper at the end."

Instead, that role went to Northwestern State. Byars-Dawson's desperation 3-point shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

The frantic final seconds overshadowed an otherwise sloppy performance by both teams.

Hawai'i struggled against the Demons' full-court defense and platoon system of 10 players. Northwestern State head coach Mike McConathy rotated a fresh group of five players every six to seven minutes.

"I've been doing that for eight years," he said. "When you're playing at a high level, we have 10 or 11 that can play with five or six pretty good ones. We don't have five guys that can match up with five real good ones."

For the most part, the system worked as UH shot just 41 percent from the field (22-of-54). However, the Demons were worse, shooting 33 percent (19-of-57).

Carl English led UH with 19 points, and also contributed eight rebounds. Mike McIntyre added 14 points and six rebounds.

Hawai'i fell behind 21-16 midway through the first half, but later went on a 14-6 run to take a 35-29 lead at halftime.

Shimonovich had 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting at halftime. He wound up shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Byars-Dawson led Northwestern State with 17 points, although he shot 5-of-15 from the field.

It was UH's fourth game in five days, but it will not play again until Dec. 10 against Norfolk State.

Northwestern State, which is from Natchitoches, La., fell to 2-4, with all of its games coming in the last 12 days on the road.

For the sixth consecutive game, Hawai'i played without star guard Predrag Savovic and forwards Luc-Arthur Vebobe and Tony Akpan. They are currently under NCAA investigation and have yet to hear a ruling on their eligibility.