Miners hold off UH
• Nightmarish road trip finally ends
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Hawai'i forward Phil Martin is double teamed by UTEP's Omar Thomas, middle, and Roy Smallwood in the first half. UH fell behind by 21 points in the first half and eventually lost, 71-62.
Associated Press |
The Rainbow Warriors could not defy the odds in a 71-62 loss to Texas-El Paso yesterday.
On UTEP's senior night, with a boisterous sellout crowd of 12,000 in the Don Haskins Center, the Miners took advantage of road-weary Hawai'i to remain in sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference.
"We just didn't come out ready to play," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "You can talk about the travel and the altitude and the crowd, and yeah, all those things are factors. But we made bad decisions and there's no excuse for that."
The Miners, who won just six games a year ago, improved to 20-5 overall and 11-4 in the conference. Hawai'i dropped to 17-8 overall and 9-5 in the WAC.
When this road trip started on Feb. 16, the 'Bows were in first place. They are now in fourth.
"I told the team NCAA (Tournament) is out the window now, unless we win the (WAC) Tournament," Wallace said. "But this season's not over. We'll go back home and regroup and hopefully be ready to make that run in the (WAC) Tournament."
Hawai'i trailed the entire game, but cut a 21-point deficit down to seven in the second half.
"We never gave up, and we made it close," said UH senior guard Michael Kuebler. "But we did ourselves in early in the game. We just got in too much of a hole."
Kuebler's performance epitomized Hawai'i's. He was held scoreless in the first half, then produced all 22 of his team-high points after intermission.
Wallace installed a new lineup in the second half, using Kuebler at point guard and freshman Bobby Nash at shooting guard.
"I felt good with the ball in my hands," Kuebler said. "But other guys stepped up, too. We did what we could with that lineup and just came up a little short."
Julian Sensley added 18 points — including two spectacular dunks in the second half — and nine rebounds for the 'Bows. Nash, who played a season-high 19 minutes, provided two points and three rebounds.
"I just wanted to give a spark to the team," Nash said. "We don't use that lineup in practice, but it was working."
In the first half, very little was working for the 'Bows.
It started even before the game, when UTEP honored its five seniors on the court. Because the ceremony lasted so long, the warm-up time for both teams was cut.
However, it did not affect the Miners, as they opened the game by making five of their first seven shots — including 2 of 2 from 3-point range — to build a 13-5 lead they would never relinquish.
A 15-2 run midway through the half extended the lead to 37-16. By that stage, the Miners were shooting 68 percent from the field, including a 3-pointer that banked off the backboard by Brent Murphy, and a twisting reverse layup by Filiberto Rivera.
"When that 3 banked in, I figured it couldn't get any worse," Kuebler said. "So I knew we could get back in it."
Sensley added: "They came out on fire. But we were making some silly mistakes, too. We knew once we settled down, we'd be OK."
The Miners took a 40-27 lead at halftime, with John Tofi and Rivera combining to score 27 for UTEP in the first half.
Tofi, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward of Samoan ancestry, finished with 22 points on 9 of 11 shooting, and 10 rebounds. He had 17 points in the first half on 7 of 8 shooting.
"He got all those easy buckets on us in the first half and that was the difference if you look at the final score," Wallace said.
Last month in Honolulu, Tofi was limited to four points in Hawai'i's 85-63 rout of the Miners.
"We kept that in mind," Tofi said. "We were real intense because of that loss. I was just fortunate my teammates found me and got me into a groove early."
Wallace said a key to the Hawai'i rally in the second half was Phil Martin's defense on Tofi.
"None of our big guys could guard him in the first half," Wallace said. "We wanted Phil on a quicker guy, but we had no choice but to put him on (Tofi) and he ended up doing a good job."
Senior center Haim Shimonovich started last night after missing the two previous games with a sprained right knee. He finished with two points and two rebounds in just seven minutes of the first half.
The 'Bows got as close as 66-59 with 42.7 seconds remaining, but the Miners made five of six free throws after that to seal the win.
"Without a great home-court advantage, Hawai'i would have whipped us tonight," UTEP head coach Billy Gillispie said. "Our crowd was so good. Every time it looked like we were getting tired, the crowd brought us back to life."
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
• • •
Nightmarish road trip finally ends
EL PASO, Texas — A road trip that started with such high hopes ended with a lower position in the Western Athletic Conference for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.
After a 71-62 loss to Texas-El Paso yesterday, the 'Bows dropped to fourth place in the WAC. They are 17-8 overall and 9-5 in the conference.
After the game, Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace approached officials from UTEP and the WAC to voice his displeasure over the 'Bows' schedule over the last week.
"You can't ask kids to do the impossible," Wallace said. "We tried to say positive things all week to keep our minds off it, but it really was a difficult position to put us in."
He was referring to a nine-day, three-game road trip that took Hawai'i from Honolulu to Boise, Idaho, then to Carbondale, Ill., and then to El Paso.
The 'Bows will return to Honolulu tonight with three losses and more than 8,500 frequent flyer miles. Because the three road games were in such separated cities, the 'Bows spent almost two full days riding on buses or planes, or in airport terminals, during the trip.
"Now that we look back and we have three losses, it doesn't look like it was planned well at all," senior guard Michael Kuebler said. "But one thing could have changed our thinking on that, and that's winning, which we didn't do."
The thorn in UH's travel plans was last Saturday's Bracket Buster game at Southern Illinois.
After losing that game, the 'Bows had approximately 40 hours to travel from Carbondale to El Paso and prepare for a first-place game against the Miners.
"I want to be on national TV, I want to play the nationally ranked teams, I want all of that stuff," Wallace said. "But we need to be able to work out a better schedule."
Prior to this season, the UH and UTEP coaches tried to work out a change, but UTEP could not find another open spot on its schedule for the 'Bows.
The Miners were not invited to the Bracket Buster this season, so they had four days to prepare for Hawai'i. In the nine days that Hawai'i spent on the road, the Miners were in El Paso the whole time.
"I want us to be in the Bracket Buster again," Wallace said. "But I just want a schedule that's more fair."
Wait 'til next year: As part of the Bracket Buster agreement, Southern Illinois will have to play at Hawai'i next season.
UH associate coach Bob Nash, who is in charge of scheduling opponents, said the Salukis will probably play the 'Bows in late December.
Hurting Haim: UH senior center Haim Shimonovich started last night's game after missing the previous two games with a sprained right knee.
He played with a brace on his knee, and was ineffective in limited playing time.
He finished with two points and two rebounds in seven minutes of the first half, and did not play in the second half.
"Haim couldn't get up and down the floor, and (UTEP) was running," Wallace said. "This is a tough place to try and get in shape because of the altitude, so he was slower than normal, so I had to get him out."
Coming home: The 'Bows will begin preparing for their final two home games of the season. They will play Tulsa on Friday, and then Rice on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m.) when seniors Shimonovich, Phil Martin, Jason Carter, Michael Kuebler and Paul Jesinskis will be honored.
Doubling up: Michael Harris had 17 points and 10 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season in Rice's 63-60 victory over visiting Fresno State last night.
Fresno State missed three 3-point attempts in the final 21 seconds in an attempt to tie the game.
