Rainbows move into tie for WAC basketball lead

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i's Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan (54) gets past Fresno State's Hiram Fuller, left, and Noel Felix to take a shot. Akpan finished with 10 points in an 88-77 victory. Photos by Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Fresno State's Noel Felix, left, and Hawai'i's Michael Kuebler battle for the ball during the first half at Stan Sheriff Center.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team defeated Fresno State, 88-77, last night to move into a tie with the Bulldogs for first place atop the WAC.

The Rainbow Warriors did it by once again winning in their house of perfection, the Stan Sheriff Center. The 'Bows have won 22 consecutive home games, including three in the past five days and 10 this season.

A crowd of 7,891 — the largest of the season — watched the 'Bows improve to 11-2 overall and 4-1 in the WAC. The Bulldogs, who were the only remaining undefeated WAC team prior to last night, fell to 11-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference.

"We don't feel like anybody can come in here and beat us," UH guard Carl English said. "Duke, anybody. We have that confidence rising."

That confidence showed in a dazzling display of long-range shooting by English and junior guard Michael Kuebler.

English solidified his reputation as the Bulldogs' tamer, scoring a game-high 30 points. In UH's last three meetings with Fresno State dating to last season — all Hawai'i victories — English has scored 85 points.

Kuebler added 29 points, including 21 during the decisive first half.

Hawai'i connected on a season-high 11 3-pointers, with Kuebler (6 of 10) and English (4 of 6) combining for 10 of 16 shooting from long range.

"Carl is there every night," Wallace said. "And somebody else always steps up."

From the start of last night's game, it was clear that the latest "somebody else" would be Kuebler.

He made all six of his 3-pointers in the first half, including three 3s during a 90-second span early in the game to help UH forge a 14-9 lead.

The Bulldogs managed to tie the score at 25 with 5:04 remaining in the half before Kuebler went on another shooting flurry.

He made three more 3-pointers in the final 2:47 of the half to highlight a 17-10 surge that gave the 'Bows a 42-35 lead at intermission. His sixth 3-pointer of the half came just before the halftime buzzer sounded.

"It's gotta break your heart if you're the other team because they were playing good defense," Wallace said. "(Kuebler) just had that feel and the guys were finding him."

Most of Kuebler's first-half points came against Fresno State's aggressive zone defense that entered last night's game as the WAC's best, allowing just 62.5 points per game.

When the Bulldogs' opened the game with their zone — and focusing primarily on English — Kuebler said his first thought was "get the zone buster out."

Fresno State head coach Ray Lopes admitted he never figured on Kuebler being that zone buster.

"I knew that he was a good shooter," Lopes said. "But if you told me he was going to hit 10 baskets and make six 3s against a defense that we normally play, I would have thought you were crazy."

It was enough for Lopes to switch to a man-to-man defense in the second half. That didn't work either.

English took over after intermission, scoring 23 points in the final 20 minutes.

More important, all of Hawai'i's second-half points came while patiently running its flex-motion offense. The 'Bows shot 58.3 percent for the game, including a near-perfect 82.4 percent (14 of 17) in the second half.

English made all seven of his shots in the second half, including three 3-pointers.

"Our defense just wasn't very good," Lopes said. "But their offense had a lot to do with that."

The 88 points by Hawai'i was the most surrendered by Fresno State this season.

The Bulldogs got as close as 50-46 with 15:42 remaining before the 'Bows pulled away with their sharpshooting.

Mark Campbell's first basket of the game — a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner — capped an 8-0 surge that put the 'Bows in control for good at 58-46 with 14:03 remaining. Fresno State never got closer than eight in the final 10 minutes.

Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan came off the bench to contribute 10 points and six rebounds. Center Haim Shimonovich grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds as UH won the battle of the boards, 31-23.

Damon Jackson led four Bulldogs in double-figures with 21. Terry Pettis and Noel Felix added 14 each, and Rolando Todd had 10.

Notes: Prior to last night's game, Carl English was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week. The 6-5 junior guard, recorded 44 points and 19 rebounds to lead the 'Bows in victories over Southern Methodist and Louisiana Tech last week. It was the second time in his career that English received the honor (he was named WAC Player of the Week on March 4 of last season). He is also the first UH player to receive the award this season.