Spartans shut down Hawai'i
By Dylan Hernandez
Special to The Advertiser
SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the first time all season, openings and points were hard to come by for Carl English.
Associated Press
Haunted by a pesky San Jose State defense and foul trouble, English was held to a season-low six points, as the Rainbow Warriors were upset, 79-67, by the Spartans in front of 1,536 at The Event Center.
Hawai'i center Haim Shimonovich grabbed the arm of San Jose State's Keith Everage while battling for a rebound last night. Despite a height advantage, UH lost the game, 79-67.
Hawai'i dropped to 11-3 overall and 4-2 in the WAC. The 'Bows are now 1-3 in road games this season. The Spartans improved to 4-10 overall and 1-4 in the WAC.
UH's defeat was as stunning as English's showing, given that the Spartans had lost eight consecutive games and did not have a player taller than 6 feet 5 available last night.
But 10 Hawai'i turnovers in the first half led to 17 Spartan points and a 43-29 halftime deficit it could not overcome.
Down by as much as 21 late in the game, Hawai'i closed with a late surge, but could not avoid losing at The Event Center for the second straight year. In a similar scenario last season, the first-place 'Bows lost to the last-place Spartans.
"They were contesting every shot," UH head coach Riley Wallace said of the SJSU defense. "They didn't give Carl English anything to look at. They took away the jump shot and didn't give us anything inside."
English scored just two points in the first half, when he played only eight minutes because of two early fouls. Entering the game as the WAC's top scorer with 20.5 points per game, he was just 2 of 9 from the field last night, including 0 of 2 from 3-point range.
He fouled out with 4:03 remaining, and then declined an interview request after the game.
Junior forward Phil Martin was UH's only offensive threat for much of the second half, when he scored 16 of his team-high 18 points. Mark Campbell contributed 11 points and eight assists, and Michael Kuebler added 14 points.
"Our shots weren't falling," said Kuebler. "We had problems on the defensive end, too. They were able to penetrate."
A reason for that could have been the Spartans' miniature lineup, which had no one taller than 6-5 Keith Everage. Starting center Eric Walton, the tallest Spartan at 6-8, did not play because of a bruised thigh.
The four quickest Spartans scored in double-figures: Brandon Hawkins (23), Keith West (20), Antonio Lawrence (16) and Everage (11). To combat SJSU's quickness, Wallace put his defense in a 1-2-2 zone, a strategy that cut the deficit to 46-41 with 12:48 to go.
But from there, it was all San Jose State.
"We got them down five and thought we could break them," Wallace said. "But they didn't break and we lost our legs."
Hawai'i, which started four players 6-5 or taller, was out-rebounded, 37-34. The 'Bows also converted only 45.5 percent of its free throws (10 of 22).
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