Posted on: Saturday, November 27, 2004

On this night, Blackett was the shooting star

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Monday night is "Blackout Night" for a University of Hawai'i men's basketball team that will debut its new black uniforms against Southern Illinois.

But last night was "Blackett Night" against Coastal Carolina, an eye-opener of a different sort.

That was something to celebrate, too, in honor of forward Jeff Blackett's contributions to the Rainbow Warriors overcoming a 22-point second-half deficit to rally past the Chanticleers, 72-65, in a contender for the biggest comeback by a UH basketball team.

While there is no record available for largest deficit overcome, this was still one for the books as Blackett became the second 'Bow in as many games to leap to the forefront. Another night, another shooting star as Blackett matched Matt Gibson's game-high 22 points of Tuesday night — this time 20 of them in the second half.

When the 'Bows trailed by 14 (37-23) at halftime, in the privacy of their Stan Sheriff Center locker room, assistant coach "(Bob) Burke said, 'you guys can't play any worse,' " Blackett recalled. A feeling no doubt shared by a crowd of 5,085 who watched the 'Bows struggle mightly with the CCU defense and shot selection.

Burke was wrong, of course, because the 'Bows proceeded to fall even further behind, eventually to 54-32 with 14 minutes, 20 seconds left in the second half.

In that, Blackett could have been the poster player for UH's frustrations. His 1-of-9 shooting slump in the opener against Mississippi Valley State deepened to 2 of 12 by halftime last night.

But the 6-foot-8 forward that teammates swear is their Clark Kent in disguise, the mild-mannered Utahan with an "S" on his chest and able to leap tall deficits in a single bound, found his range and regained a touch not seen in eight months.

In a performance somewhat reminiscent of his 18-point night against Utah State in the National Invitation Tournament and 17-point outing against Nebraska in the same tournament, the former "super sub" playing a starting role this year — and all 20 minutes of the second half — helped propel the 'Bows to a 2-0 record by making good on 9 of 12 in second-half field goals.

"At halftime, I knew it was just a matter of knocking some down," Blackett said. Last game I couldn't hit a shot (but I knew I'd do better if I just worked on it. I kept on it at practice until I felt like it was coming back."

Blackett said "Coach (Riley) Wallace just told me to hang in there, get my shots and make them fall. I wasn't doing that."

But that ended with 16 minutes 35 seconds left in the second half and he proceeded to go on a tear. "When you get that first shot (to fall) everything after that feels a lot easier," Blackett said. "And, once you get two, three, four ... of them you know your shot is on."

When you hit six, seven and eight, as he eventually did, the opposition knew it was in trouble, too.

For it was "Blackett Night."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.