By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Last year, Julian Sensley wasn't quite himself when the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team played at Southern Illinois.

Last night, however, there was no mistaking who he is or who he has suddenly become for the Rainbow Warriors.

"Black-Out Night" became a coming-out night for Sensley with a 17-point, 11-rebound performance that stamped the forward as the unbeaten (3-0) 'Bows' ready, willing and able leader in a 66-64 victory over Southern Illinois.

While the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,539 cheered his seizing of the role — and the moment — the transformation was not lost on the Salukis.

"He can do more things this year," said Darren Brooks who, as the Salukis' man on Sensley, saw most of those things up close and personal. "Last year, he didn't even try to score on me too much.

"Tonight he redefined his role or something (because) he's scoring more," Brooks added. "He made plays, which is what the good players do."

And, as Sensley has been reminded by head coach Riley Wallace, what leaders do.

Three games into this season, this was precisely what the 'Bows were looking for from Sensley who, at 6-feet-9 and 235 pounds, looks the part and needed only to begin playing it.

Part of it was that Sensley was the new kid on the block last year amid four seniors, all with well-defined roles. Another element, at least for last year's SIU game, was that Sensley had come off a tooth extraction less than 48 hours before. "Man, I wasn't feeling too good that night," Sensley said. "I probably had, like, three points."

Actually it was four in a 66-62 loss in the "Bracket Buster" game in February.

This time he was, as Wallace would put it, "the anchor" for this basketball team to rally around.

So in the first timeout, with UH trailing 16-15 and struggling mightily with the Salukis' in-your-face defense that forced seven turnovers in the first eight minutes, Sensley spoke up and, then, stepped up.

"This team is pretty quiet so, during the timeout, I told the guys, 'hey, we got to go and we gotta win. We started having some fire and we started fighting back."

In this, Sensley led by example with put-backs and rebounds. His spectacular alley-oop with 2 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first half off a pass from Matt Gibson underlined Sensley's statement-making game.

"I felt like the big brother and (since) they were kind of bullying us, I had to step in for my brothers," Sensley said. "I became the aggressor of the team and once I got fired up, everybody jumped in."

If these 'Bows are to go anywhere with their first 3-0 start since the 2001-'02 season, Sensley, more often than not, is going to have to be the back they jump on.

And, last night, was the first indication he's up for the task.

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