San Jose State stops Hawai'i

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

The home winning streak came to a slow-motion halt for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team last night.

San Jose State's Antonio Lawrence saves the ball from going out of bounds as UH's Mark Campbell watches. Associated Press

A crowd of 6,457 watched the Spartans snap Hawai'i's 24-game home winning streak with a slow pace that led to a frantic finish.

Keith West scored the go-ahead basket with 3.5 seconds remaining on a driving layup. Then, Mark Campbell's putback attempt of his own missed shot was ruled to come a fraction of a second after the final buzzer.

"The streak's over, but this is still a tough place to come in here and play," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "That's only two (losses) in two years."

But it's also two losses this season to San Jose State.

The Spartans — who also beat UH in San Jose, Calif., last month — are only 6-15 overall and 3-9 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Hawai'i fell to 13-8 overall with its third consecutive loss. More significant, the 'Bows dropped to seventh place in the WAC at 6-7.

"I really wanted to beat these guys," UH junior forward Phil Martin said. "I didn't think they deserved to beat us the first time. We all wanted to get them back."

Martin did his part, scoring a game-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He also grabbed a team-high six rebounds, but fouled out with 7:20 remaining.

Michael Kuebler, playing on a sprained left ankle, contributed 11 points, and was the only other UH player in double figures.

UH's Carl English drew a crowd whenever he touched the ball last night, scoring just nine points. Associated Press

"It all comes down to defense and rebounding is an extension of your defense," Wallace said.

For the second time this season, SJSU played Spartan defense on English, limiting the WAC's leading scorer to nine points on 3-of-15 shooting.

In the two losses to SJSU this season, English scored a total of 16 points on 5-of-24 shooting, including 0-of-9 on 3-pointers. The Spartans are the only team to hold him to single-digit points this season.

"I just think we make it as tough as we can for him to catch it; we try to make him work," SJSU head coach Phil Johnson said. "He looked a little bit out of his rhythm. I don't know if it was what we did as much as he missed some shots."

From the start, the Spartans slowed the pace. On each offensive possession, they stood with the ball at half-court until the 35-second shot clock wound down to 20 before starting their play.

"It kind of gets you off rhythm," Kuebler said. "It's just awkward playing against something like that."

Perhaps because of the pace, the game turned into a back-and-forth battle throughout. The game featured 17 lead changes, and neither team ever led by more than seven.

Martin scored 13 in the first half on 6-of-9 shooting to lead the 'Bows to a 25-24 halftime lead. An 8-2 surge to open the second half built the lead to 33-26.

SJSU responded with a 13-2 run to take a 39-35 lead with 10:11 remaining. The lead changed six times after that, including four times in the final 25 seconds.

Campbell scored his only points of the game in the final 24.7 seconds. His layup and subsequent free throw completed a three-point play that put UH ahead 52-50.

But SJSU's Scott Sonnenberg drained a 3-pointer with 15.9 seconds to put the Spartans back up, 53-52.

"If he misses that and we get the rebound, we probably win the ball game," Wallace said. "He was cold-blooded on that shot."

Campbell was then fouled on UH's ensuing possession, and he made both free throws for a 54-53 lead with 11.6 seconds left.

West then drove nearly the entire length of the court on the winning basket.

Wallace said that because of the slow pace, he used only one reserve player, Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan. Campbell, English and Kuebler played the entire 40 minutes.

• • •