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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, December 21, 2003

Hawai'i rolls to Festival victory

 •  Game statistics

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Julian Sensley slams home two of his UH career-high 16 points against New Orleans.

Photos by Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Hawai'i's Jason Carter soared between New Orleans' Johnell Smith, left, and Kentrell Martin last night.
A night before graduation ceremonies at the Stan Sheriff Center, the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team held a career night.

Several Rainbow Warriors posted career-best numbers in a resounding 92-64 victory over New Orleans last night in the final game of the adidas Festival.

Although no official championship trophy was awarded, Hawai'i was the only team to go 2-0 in the four-team tournament. The 'Bows won those two games by a combined 58 points, and scored at least 90 points in consecutive games for the first time since the 1981-82 season.

"This team is really coming together all the way up and down," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said.

A crowd of 3,527 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the 'Bows improve to 5-2 with their third consecutive victory.

On a night when senior Phil Martin reached the one grand level in career points, a grand time was had by several other 'Bows. Among them:

• Michael Kuebler matched his career best with 29 points. It was the fourth time in his two seasons at UH that he has reached 29.

New Orleans played a two-three zone defense for most of the game, but Kuebler made them pay with five 3-pointers.

"I'm not going to be timid about putting it up," he said.

He scored 17 in the second half, including 10 consecutive points for UH during a 93-second stretch.

• Julian Sensley established his career-high with 16 points, and was one of two UH players to record a statistical double-double as he added 10 rebounds.

Haim Shimonovich was the other with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Sensley also had seven assists, three short of becoming the first player in UH history to record a triple-double.

"The last couple of games, I wasn't really confident in my shot so I was kind of holding back," he said. "I was kind of letting 'em fly tonight and fortunately some dropped."

• Martin contributed 18 points and eight rebounds, and became the 11th player in UH history to score 1,000 career points.

In Friday's win over Texas Southern, Martin surpassed the 500 rebound mark for his career. He is just the third player to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds at UH.

"It's an honor to be in the books," Martin said. "But I'm not going to sit here and think about that."

As Wallace put it: "Congratulations to Phil Martin. But we don't dwell on that because we don't want to develop stars, especially with this team. We want to develop team unity and work."

It was on display last night as the 'Bows shot 54 percent from the field, and had 23 assists.

"The defense didn't really make any difference tonight," New Orleans head coach Monte Towe said. "(Hawai'i) scored basically at will. The only way we could have stopped them is if we put seven guys out there ... and I don't think seven could have stopped them."

For the second consecutive night, Hawai'i built a big lead behind its big men.

The UH starting frontline of 6-10 Shimonovich, 6-9 Sensley and 6-8 Martin combined for 29 points and 17 rebounds in the first half.

Sensley hit two 3-pointers early in the game, and then had two spectacular putback dunks during a 13-2 run that gave Hawai'i a 32-20 lead.

"It showed what he's capable of doing if he really works hard and plays hard," Wallace said.

The 'Bows took a 43-30 lead at intermission, and was never really challenged in the second half.

The Privateers scored the first five points of the second half to cut the UH lead to 43-35, but that was as close as it would get. Kuebler scored seven during a 15-5 surge that put the 'Bows in control for good at 58-40 with 14:05 remaining.

Led by its big men, Hawai'i out-rebounded New Orleans, 43-33.

UH point guard Logan Lee was held scoreless, but he passed for seven assists with zero turnovers. In UH's two victories in the adidas Festival, Lee had 15 assists and zero turnovers.

Towe said he wanted to employ a zone defense to counter UH's size advantage. But as he said after the game about the 'Bows: "They score really from everywhere on the court."

New Orleans, which was playing its fourth road game in seven days, dropped to 4-3. Three Privateers scored in double figures: Ben Elias (16), Johnell Smith (15) and Kyle Buggs (12).

Hawai'i is scheduled to play Lamar on Saturday on the opening night of the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic.

• Texas Southern 73, Idaho State 63: Sean Walker scored 21 points, including 15 of 15 shooting on free throws, to lead the Tigers (3-5) over the Bengals in yesterday's first game.

Jerome Bell added 10 points and 11 rebounds for Texas Southern, which went 1-1 in the tourney. The Tigers had 45 rebounds and converted 25 of 29 free throws. In contrast, the Bengals got 31 rebounds and made 7 of 13 free throws.

Idaho State, which went 0-2 in the tournament, was led by Jeff Gardner (16 points) and Scott Henry (14 points, 12 rebounds).

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.

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