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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, January 3, 2003

Warriors open WAC with win over Texas-El Paso

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

EL PASO, Texas — The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team rebounded nicely last night after a whirlwind past few days.

Hawai'i center Haim Shimonovich got to a loose ball before UTEP's Giovanni St. Amant.

Associated Press

It's shooting, however, matched the dreary El Paso weather.

Proof that the wacky Western Athletic Conference season is underway, the Rainbow Warriors combined their best rebounding effort of the season with their worst shooting performance in a 64-52 victory over Texas-El Paso.

A crowd of 5,199 at the Don Haskins Center watched the 'Bows improve to 8-1 with their sixth consecutive victory. The Miners dropped to 2-8 with their third consecutive loss.

It was the WAC opener for both teams.

"I was happy to win this one," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "Our team didn't have the energy they usually have. It wasn't the real team we've been looking at lately, the team that won the Rainbow Classic. But we still managed to win the game, and this has not been an easy place for us to win, so I'll take it."

Indeed, it was only UH's fifth victory in 23 meetings with UTEP at El Paso. And for the first time since joining the WAC in 1980, Hawai'i was able to win at UTEP in consecutive seasons (the 'Bows won last season, 70-68).

But, in truth, a win was almost expected by Hawai'i last night. Las Vegas oddsmakers proved their worth by tabbing the 'Bows as 12-point favorites.

However, Hawai'i had little time to prepare for the Miners.

The 'Bows were coming off one of the most exciting victories in the program's history, an 81-78 overtime win over Butler in the championship game of the Rainbow Classic. But less than 10 hours after the conclusion of that game, they were on a flight to El Paso.

Carl English grabbed a rebound from UTEP's St. Amant and teammate Michael Kuebler

Associated Press

"It was a quick turnaround," UH junior guard Carl English said. "We really had only one day to get ready for these guys, and I think they came out a little harder than we expected."

The Miners, who suited up only eight players last night, held a brief lead in the first half, and never let the bigger 'Bows pull away in the second half.

"I think we overlooked them," English said. "On the road, it's all about pulling out the win, no matter how you do it. We did that. But it's not one of the games we want to remember."

Hawai'i shot just 32.7 percent from the field — colder than the 35-degree temperature outside the arena — including just 27.8 percent from 3-point range (5-of-18). Only one player shot better than 50 percent from the field (Phil Martin was 3-of-5).

English led UH with 17 points, and Michael Kuebler contributed 16. They were the only 'Bows in double-figures, although they combined to shoot 8-for-25 from the field.

"Our offense is a lot better than that," said Kuebler, who shot 4-of-12 from the field. "(UTEP) played pretty good defense, but it was more us. We just weren't hitting the shots we normally make."

Instead, the 'Bows dominated in rebounds, grabbing 46 to UTEP's 27. Of particular importance, Hawai'i got 19 offensive rebounds, which led to 10 "second chance" points. The Miners collected only four offensive rebounds, and did not score any second chance points.

"That is pretty good domination, and thank God we did," Wallace said. "(UTEP) out-shot us, and if we don't control the boards like we did, we would have been in real trouble."

First-year UTEP head coach Billy Gillispie said: "It's always something that gets us. Tonight it was (Hawai'i's) offensive rebounds."

Continuing his stellar play off the bench in the Rainbow Classic, Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan led the UH effort with a career-high 12 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

"We just had to box out and crash the boards," said Akpan, a 6-foot-8 sophomore who also contributed nine points. "Our shots weren't going in, but we never gave up, we kept trying."

Haim Shimonovich, UH's 6-10 junior center, added nine rebounds, and Kuebler grabbed six.

Wallace, however, said Shimonovich's offensive output — six points on 3-of-9 shooting, and four of the team's 14 turnovers — contributed to the overall sluggishness.

"When he comes out and gets real active and works the low post, it gets a lot of things going for us," Wallace said. "But he played tired tonight and it affected the rest of the offense."

In addition to rebounding, the 'Bows had free-throw shooting. Hawai'i made 23 of 29 free throws, while the Miners made 11 of 19.

In the final 2:03 of the game, UH made 9 of 10 free throws to clinch the victory.

The 'Bows appeared to be in control early, racing to an 18-10 lead. However, UTEP responded with a 12-0 run to take a short-lived 22-18 advantage.

Akpan put back a missed shot by Mark Campbell to tie the score at 23, then English drained a 3-pointer from NBA range as the first-half clock expired, giving Hawai'i a 26-23 advantage at intermission.

"We were playing sluggish and it gave us a good lift," Wallace said. "The play we called actually wasn't there, and if you know Carl English, you know he's going to shoot it."

The 'Bows never relinquished the lead in the second half, although the margin never got to double-digits until less than five minutes remained.

"We can't play like we did tonight and expect to win on the road," Kuebler said.

Because of its depleted roster, UTEP deliberately slowed the pace of the game, according to Gillispie. He said his goal was to give his team "a chance to win the game with four or five minutes left," and the Miners nearly accomplished that.

"We spread it out a little more so we could rest a little bit on offense," he said. "We had the game going exactly like we wanted to, we just have to have a little more confidence in ourselves."

Giovanni St. Amant, a 6-3 freshman guard, scored a career-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting for UTEP. Justino Victoriano, a 6-9 center, added 10 points and 10 rebounds, and was virtually UTEP's only inside presence.

"We played a little bit of 'D' too," English said. "We held them to 52, so it shows that even if we're not hitting on offense, we can find other ways to win."

Hawai'i will depart El Paso today for Boise, Idaho. The 'Bows will continue on the WAC road at Boise State at 10 a.m. (Hawai'i time) on Saturday.

"Hopefully this was our letdown after that big win against Butler," Kuebler said. "I think this game woke us up, and we'll be better for it."

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