UH season ends with loss at Michigan
Associated Press
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Lester Abram scored 17 points and Michigan used a balanced attack with five players in double figures to get past Hawai'i 88-73 in an NIT quarterfinal tonight.
The Wolverines (21-11) advanced to next week's semifinals in New York, where they will play the winner of tomorrow's Oregon-Notre Dame game.
The Rainbow Warriors (21-12) have made it to the NIT quarterfinals five times, and have lost each game. Hawai'i's Michael Kuebler scored 19, Julian Sensley had 16 points and five assists and Haim Shimonovich added 12 points and eight rebounds.
Michigan's Graham Brown tied a career high with 14 points and senior Bernard Robinson had 14 points and seven assists in his final game at Crisler Arena.
Daniel Horton had 13 points and five assists and Dion Harris added 12 points for the Wolverines. Abram came off the bench and was effective after missing the previous three games with a left shoulder injury.
The Wolverines won the NIT championship in 1997, but the school later gave up the title as part of its self-imposed sanctions stemming from its involvement with now-deceased booster Ed Martin. Michigan is in the postseason, for the first time since the 2000 NIT, because the school won an appeal of a postseason ban in September.
The Wolverines also won the NIT title in 1984, the season before they won two straight Big Ten titles, the last conference championships in team history.
The Wolverines were 16-3 at home this season and are 12-0 at home in NIT games, including wins this year against Missouri and Oklahoma.
Hawai'i made quite a turnaround to travel to its first game in Michigan. The Warriors beat Nebraska at home late Monday night, traveled to Salt Lake City where they had a layover and arrived in Michigan late this afternoon.
Hawai'i looked fatigued at the end of the game, and the Wolverines turned it into a rout.
After five ties and two lead changes early in the game, Michigan built a nine-point lead. The Rainbow Warriors came back and tied the game three times before trailing 43-37 at halftime.
Horton scored six points during the first four minutes of the second half to give the Wolverines a 53-43 lead, and the Warriors didn't get closer than seven thereafter.
