UH holds off Nevada, 73-71
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Hawai'i's Carl English scored 26 points, including a 19-foot jumper with 16.3 seconds left, to lift the Rainbows over Nevada last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Ronen Zilberman • Associated Press |
It also happens to be on a flight to Ohio.
The Rainbow Warriors ended a streak of frustrating losses with a thrilling 73-71 victory over Nevada last night.
Carl English's jump shot from 19 feet away with 16.3 seconds remaining provided the winning basket.
A crowd of 4,721 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the 'Bows snap a three-game losing streak to improve to 14-8 overall and 7-7 in the Western Athletic Conference. Prior to last night, the 'Bows had lost six of their last eight games, including three one-point losses.
"These guys will be able to fly over (to Ohio) without the wings," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "By winning the game like that and finally getting a close one, they'll fly lightly."
Nevada, which is now 0-6 in games played in Honolulu, dropped to 14-10 overall and 9-5 in the WAC. The Wolf Pack is now tied for second place with Louisiana Tech.
Shortly after last night's victory, the 'Bows were scheduled to fly to Ohio for Saturday's ESPN Bracket Buster game at Kent State.
"This one was huge," English said. "I don't even want to think about what that long flight would be like if we lost this one."
English led the 'Bows with 26 points and eight rebounds. His winning shot was UH's only points in the final three minutes.
Over that closing stretch, Nevada scored nine unanswered points to turn a 71-62 deficit into a 71-71 tie. Terrance Green's 3-pointer with 44.6 seconds remaining tied it.
"I know the question is did you feel like it was deja vu?" Wallace said. "Yes, you have that fear in your mind ... I think because of the four or five losses we had in games exactly like this, it caused us to tighten up a little bit."
English, however, said he welcomed the situation.
After scoring just nine points on 3-of-15 shooting — his worst shooting game of the season — in a 55-54 loss to San Jose State Saturday, English stayed after every practice this week to take extra jump shots. Each post-practice session ended with pretend buzzer-beaters.
"I practice those shots because you never know when you're going to be in that situation," he said. "Once (Nevada) tied it, I knew I was going to take the next shot."
On the winning play, English faked a drive down the middle, then stepped back near the 3-point line and shot over Nevada's Jerry Petty.
"I wasn't thinking about the clock or anything," English said. "I just wanted the ball so bad. There was no question I had to deliver."
Wallace added: "It's the offense. He comes as the first option and then there's a lot (more options) behind it. But as you know, if Carl has his shot, he's going to take it."
Nevada had one last possession, but Todd Okeson's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim.
"We got the look we wanted," Nevada head coach Trent Johnson said. "We got the No. 1 3-point shooting guy in the conference ... I'll live with that all the time."
Okeson entered the game with a WAC-leading .505 percentage from 3-point range. But last night, he was 1-of-5 from long range.
English made three 3-pointers in the opening minutes, and scored 12 of UH's first 14 points as the 'Bows raced to a 14-5 lead.
"We didn't get out and defend with a sense of urgency," Johnson said. "We enabled Carl to get some open looks and get in a rhythm."
The Hawai'i reserves, most of whom did not see any action against San Jose State, helped build the lead to as much as 34-17 with 6:05 remaining in the first half. Jason Carter, Vaidotas Peciukas and Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan came off the bench to combine for eight points, four assists and two rebounds in the first half.
"We knew it was going to be an up-tempo game," Wallace said. "There's no way we could play guys for 40 minutes."
Carter's alley-oop dunk off an assist from Peciukas was the highlight of the first half. English had 19 points by halftime, when Hawai'i held a 41-31 lead.
The 'Bows maintained a 68-58 lead with 4:49 remaining before Nevada made its late rally.
Ultimately, the Wolf Pack could not make up the early deficit.
"You can't play the defending champion team like that and react late in the game," Green said. "That's just not going to cut it."
Nevada's leading scorer, sophomore Kirk Snyder did not start last night because he was late for the team bus on Tuesday, according to Johnson. He played 32 minutes and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Petty led the Wolf Pack with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Green contributed 15 points, including seven during the late Nevada rally.
Mark Campbell added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting for UH. Phil Martin added 10 points, five rebounds and four steals, and was cited by Wallace for his defense on Snyder.
"I was proud of all of them tonight because they bounced back from a tough loss," Wallace said.
The loss to San Jose State snapped UH's 24-game home winning streak.
Johnson yelled at the officials after the game, but refused to comment about it.
Hawai'i shot 23-of-32 from the free-throw line to Nevada's 14-of-21.
Honors for English: University of Hawai'i junior guard Carl English was named to two all-district teams yesterday.
English was one of five players selected to the Verizon Academic All-District VII Team, and also made the second team of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 13 Team.
English maintains a 3.28 grade-point average with a major in liberal studies. He is expected to graduate after this semester.
The NABC selections were based on basketball performance so far this season. Entering last night's game against Nevada, English was averaging 20.0 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Among other players from the Western Athletic Conference, Louisiana Tech's Antonio Meeking made the All-District 8 first team, SMU's Quinton Ross was on the All-District 9 second team, and Nevada's Kirk Snyder joined English on the All-District 13 second team.
All the players selected to the first and second teams are eligible for NABC All-America honors.
Fresno St. 74, San Jose St. 70: Terry Pettis scored 10 of his 19 points in the second overtime as the visiting Bulldogs defeated the Spartans.
Hiram Fuller had 15 points, a season-high 16 rebounds and eight blocks, four in the final overtime as Fresno State (19-5, 12-3 in the Western Athletic Conference) remained in first place with its ninth straight win over San Jose State.
The Spartans (6-16, 3-10) missed their first nine shots in the second overtime.
Tulsa 77, SMU 70: Dante Swanson scored 25 points and the visiting Bulldogs rallied from five points down with 4:32 remaining to defeat the Mustangs.
Trailing 65-60, the Golden Hurricane (15-8, 8-6) closed with a 17-5 run, taking the lead for good on Swanson's 3-pointer at 0:43.
SMU (12-12, 7-7) cut Tulsa's lead to 71-70 on Patrick Simpson's two free throws with 28 seconds left, but Swanson made six straight free throws to seal the victory.
