honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, November 3, 2002

Starters pick up pace in rout of substitutes, 87-50

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

For starters, the starters for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team are starting to look pretty good.

The projected starting lineup for the Rainbow Warriors worked together for the first time this season yesterday and came away with a predictable 87-50 romp of the second team in an intrasquad scrimmage at the Stan Sheriff Center.

For now, the projected starters are Mark Campbell at point guard, Carl English at shooting guard, Vaidotas Peciukas at small forward, Phil Martin at power forward, and Haim Shimonovich at center. All but Peciukas were starters on last season's 27-6 team.

"If that's the group who's going to be on the floor to start the game, we need to start getting used to each other," English said. "I thought we ran real well together."

Prior to yesterday, UH head coach Riley Wallace had been varying his lineups during practice — mixing the veterans with the newcomers — in an effort to help the first-year players learn the flex-motion offense from the returnees.

"I wanted to see what that first group could do together," Wallace said. "And I thought they executed the offense for the most part."

English led the way with 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. He added nine rebounds and four assists.

Peciukas, a transfer from Weatherford College (Texas), is proving to be a quick learner. After scoring 31 points in another scrimmage last week, he scored 25 on 11-of-15 shooting yesterday.

Shimonovich contributed 20 points and six rebounds; Campbell had six points, 14 assists, eight steals and just two turnovers.

"I actually think defense was our main focus," Campbell said. "We got some turnovers and that led to some easy baskets."

Wallace did not want to put too much emphasis on yesterday's results, and maintains that the starting lineup could change at anytime. As he put it: "I expected the second group to struggle because the guards still don't know the full offense."

The second team consisted of Jason Carter and Michael Kuebler in the backcourt, and Paul Jesinskis, Milos Zivanovic and Tony Akpan in the post.

The other six players on the roster — all walk-ons — were split up to provide occasional relief.

"You can't feel real good about the depth right now," Wallace said. "But it'll get there. Those (second-team) guys all showed signs of what they're capable of."

Kuebler led the second team with 15 points, while Akpan added 14.

"There's still a lot of room for improvement," Akpan said. "But everybody is making progress."

Yesterday's scrimmage capped what Wallace described as "the most intense week of practice" so far this season. After a lackluster performance in last week's scrimmage, Wallace put the 'Bows through several physically grueling drills this week.

"I think we took things a lot more serious this time," English said. "It was a tough week, but you can see the results. What we did today was like night and day from last week."

The exhibition opener for the 'Bows is Nov. 17 against the EA Sports California All-Stars. The regular-season opener is Nov. 22 against Arkansas-Little Rock.

"We have about two-thirds of our offense in right now," Campbell said. "So we're on a good pace."