Rainbow Warriors surge past UNLV in NIT, 85-68

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i forward Michael Kuebler drives past UNLV forward Dalron Johnson in the first half. Kuebler scored 19 of his team-high 21 points in the opening 20 minutes. Associated Press

Not very many do, but the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team did just that with an impressive 85-68 victory over Nevada-Las Vegas last night.

A crowd of 2,697 — about half of them cheering for Hawai'i — at the Thomas & Mack Center watched the first-round game of the National Invitation Tournament.

The Rainbow Warriors improved to 19-11 and will find out their second-round opponent and site today. The Runnin' Rebels completed their season at 21-11.

"It was all effort ... heart," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "We laid it on the line tonight."

They had to. The 'Bows traveled from Tulsa, Okla., to Honolulu, and then to Las Vegas in a span of three days. They had one day of practice to prepare for the Rebels.

"There were a lot of excuses we could have come up with," UH junior Carl English said. "But we didn't want to use any of them. We knew if we played our game we could win."

The 'Bows did it by following one of the golden rules of Vegas: Always play the hot hand.

Michael Kuebler was the ace of the first half, scoring 19 of his team-high 21 points before intermission. English then played his familiar role in the second half, scoring 15 of his 20 points after intermission.

Kuebler's play was especially crucial. The 6-foot-5 junior scored a total of seven points in UH's two Western Athletic Conference Tournament games last week at Tulsa.

He surpassed that in the first seven minutes of last night's game by scoring eight points in the opening moments to lead Hawai'i to a 14-8 lead it would not relinquish.

"I was in a slump a little bit," Kuebler said. "But I was able to knock some shots down and get my confidence up and then just kind of went from there."

In the first half, Kuebler shot 8 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. He scored eight more during a 10-0 run that pushed the lead to 35-22 with 6:07 remaining in the half.

Wallace said he specifically asked Dr. Michael D'Andrea — one of the team's two traveling performance counselors — to work with Kuebler this week.

"I was kidding (D'Andrea) that if he didn't straighten Kuebler out, I was going to fire him," Wallace said. "(Kuebler) came out red hot in the first half and felt good about it."

Led by Kuebler, the 'Bows hit early and often, even with some surprising hands.

Reserves Haim Shimonovich, Jason Carter and Vaidotas Peciukas combined to shoot 6 for 6 in the first half. Overall, Hawai'i shot 70 percent from the field (21 of 30) in the opening 20 minutes.

"The last thing I want to do is take anything away from Hawai'i because they shot the ball well and did a really nice job with their offense," UNLV head coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "But I didn't feel like we defended very well. I thought we tried real hard on English, but there were too many other breakdowns."

As English put it: "They were guarding me full court and leaving everybody else open. In our offense, you can't focus in on one guy. Kuebler and the other guys made them pay."

The 'Bows led by as many as 43-26 late in the first half, and took a 48-33 lead into intermission.

"I thought Hawai'i looked happy to be in this game," Spoonhour said. "We, on the other hand, came out to play, but we didn't play with enthusiasm."

There was a dry spell early in the second half for Hawai'i, but by then, the 'Bows had built enough of a lead to eventually walk away.

Kuebler went 0 for 6 from the field in the second half, but English shot 4 for 6.

The Rebels opened the second half with a 10-0 run to close to 48-43, but that was as close as they would get. English scored eight points during a 17-5 surge that pushed the advantage up to 65-48.

"It got scary for a while," Wallace said. "But Carl picked it up in the second half."

English said: "(UNLV) closed the lead and Kuebler missed a couple jumpers, so I took it upon myself to create more offense."

The 'Bows cooled in the second half, shooting just 36.4 percent (8 of 22). Overall, they still finished with a 55.8 field-goal percentage (29 of 52).

They compensated in the second half by connecting on 18 of 22 free throws (81.8 percent).

The 'Bows pushed the lead to as many as 19 points late in the game, and the Rebels never got within single-digits of the lead in the game's final 12 minutes.

The 'Bows finished with 18 assists, with senior point guard Mark Campbell getting five.

"It looked like the offense of old tonight," Wallace said. "We got some back cuts and hit our shots out of it."

The play of UH's guards was vital since the big-man trio of Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan, Phil Martin and Shimonovich was in foul trouble throughout the game.

Martin had just two points and three rebounds in 14 minutes before fouling out; Shimonovich recorded six points and four rebounds in 17 minutes, but also fouled out. Akpan had 12 points and four rebounds, but committed two fouls in the first half.

"We were able to rotate them and get enough out of them," Wallace said. "They still did a good job of setting screens and getting the guys open."

Marcus Banks led UNLV with 22 points, but also committed seven turnovers. Dalron Johnson added 18 points.

NOTES: Carl English finished the game with three 3-pointers, giving him 86 for the season. That ties the UH single-season record set by Trevor Ruffin in the 1993-94 season. ... Senior walk-on Lance Takaki was not in uniform after spraining his right ankle during practice on Tuesday. ... Jason Carter, playing for the first time since tearing the medial collateral ligament in his left knee on March 8, contributed nine points off the bench.