UH's Carter made up for lost time
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
With each possession he was denied and each shot that was thwarted, Jason Parker's frustration grew perceptibly last night.
You could see it reflected in a face that grew more taut and a forearm that reflexively pushed back as the shots refused to fall for the University of Tulsa's high-scoring guard.
Parker, who was averaging 19 points a game in the Western Athletic Conference and had smoothly worked the University of Hawai'i for 26 points less than a month ago, wasn't getting the looks or the points against the Rainbow Warriors last night.
The man who was doing it to him, Jason Carter, knew a little bit about frustration, too. Before the night was over in a 92-62 Rainbow Warrior victory, though, Carter would know too the sweet satisfaction in the frustration laid off on Parker and the Golden Hurricane.
Carter's 11 points and five assists off the bench against just one slip-and-slide turnover guided the Rainbows through their toughest moments at the Stan Sheriff Center and roused a crowd of 5,063.
While starting point guard Logan Lee was on the bench and Michael Kuebler, the team's leading scorer, sat next to him with two quick fouls in the first half, it was Carter who got the Rainbows out of their three-game slide. Before this game turned into a 30-point laugher, it was Carter who got the Rainbows off and running toward their 18th victory.
Summoned from the bench for his defensive quickness, Carter held Parker to six of his 12 points and continued to stick around for 20 minutes — his longest appearance since December 15th — with timely offense and keen floor generalship.
"That's JC; he can add a lot to the game," Kuebler said. "I could feel from the bench the difference he was making out there."
"He gave us a complete game; maybe the best since he's been here," said Riley Wallace, the UH coach. "He did it with his quickness and playing under control."
It had been a while for Carter, who had become something of the disappearing Rainbow. For him, the minutes had become too few and too far between of late. Four minutes here. Six minutes there while the turnovers rose.
It was certainly no way to go out for a senior who was rapidly approaching the end of his season and having little to show for it.
It was beginning to seem like the last thing we'd remember about Carter would be the four turnovers in six excited minutes in front of family and friends at Southern Illinois.
"I knew I just had to keep my head up and keep playing hard and I'd get back in there again," Carter said.
Said Wallace: "I think he wanted more of his minutes back."
Maybe, said Carter, "it is like they say, you know, the best for last."
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
