UH holds off Fresno State

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

"Senior Night" turned into the finale the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team wanted.

UH seniors, from left, Jake Sottos, Vaidotas Peciukas and Jeff Blackett were honored after playing their final regular-season game. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The 'Bows rallied from a nine-point deficit in the second half and then held on at the end for a 66-59 win over Fresno State.

"We needed this mentally, and we went out and did it physically," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "It was a great win because a lot of people contributed, and that's what this team needs to do to win."

An enthusiastic crowd of 6,222 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the 'Bows end a five-game losing streak to improve to 15-12 overall and 7-11 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Hawai'i finished seventh in the final WAC standings and will play San Jose State in a "play-in" game of the WAC Tournament on Tuesday at Reno, Nev.

Fresno State dropped to 15-13 overall and 9-9 in the conference. The Bulldogs are the No. 4 seed in the WAC Tournament.

It was the final home game for Hawai'i seniors Jeff Blackett, Vaidotas Peciukas and Jake Sottos, but several underclassmen helped send them out on a winning note.

Among the most prominent:

• "Little Matt" Gibson scored a career-high 26 points, including 24 in the decisive second half. He shot 9 of 18 from the field, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range.

"If it takes scoring 26 to win, I'll do it; if it takes pulling 10 boards, I'll do it," the sophomore point guard said. "What ever needs to be done, I'll do to win."

Hawai'i trailed 37-28 early in the second half before Gibson sparked the rally. He scored six during a 9-0 run that gave the 'Bows a 40-39 lead with 13:56 remaining.

He then helped bury the Bulldogs by scoring 13 of Hawai'i's final 15 points in the closing 5:20 of the game.

• Chris Botez had his best game of the WAC season with eight points, 11 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists.

"I felt that urge to do something tonight," the 7-foot junior center said. "It was Senior Night and I didn't want to let the guys down."

Wallace said: "Botez played his game of the year. He was diving on the floor, blocking everything in that middle for us."

Fresno State center Mustafa Al-Sayyad normally plays like Mustafa All-American against Hawai'i, but he was limited to two points and six rebounds by Botez last night.

• Junior forward Julian Sensley had just six points and seven rebounds, but was a defensive menace.

He helped hold Fresno State leading scorer Ja'Vance Coleman to 12 points on 4-of-18 shooting. Sensley also had the blocked shot of the year, denying a dunk attempt by Al-Sayyad midway through the second half.

"Everybody wants Julian to score 20 points," Wallace said. "Well, he did it tonight because he held their best guy to 12 points. I was really proud of Julian's effort tonight."

But in the end, the night belonged to the seniors, and they each contributed.

Blackett had 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

"That was exactly the way we wanted to go out, especially against a rival like Fresno State," he said.

Sottos scored just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting, but he was another key part of Hawai'i's solid defensive effort.

Fresno State's Donovan Morris scored 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the first half to help give the Bulldogs a 33-26 advantage at halftime. But Sottos helped limit Morris to just two points on 1-of-4 shooting in the second half.

"No question, that was big," Wallace said. "We challenged Jake in the locker room at halftime because Morris was going off in that first half."

Sottos said: "I accepted that challenge. I just got up on (Morris) and didn't let him separate from me."

Peciukas played his usual energizer role off the bench, finishing with four points and two assists.

"Things we did in the first half, we didn't do in the second half," Fresno State head coach Ray Lopes said. "And Hawai'i was the tougher team tonight. We talked about making adjustments in the second half and Hawai'i just made better adjustments than we did."

Hawai'i shot just 37.9 percent from the field, but limited the Bulldogs to 33.3 percent. The 'Bows also out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 41-34, and blocked a season-high nine shots.

"Defense is the key for our team," Blackett said. "It seems like when we step up our defense, our offense follows."

Wallace added: "Pride kicked in. We were letting too many games slip away, even at home, and that's not supposed to happen to us. We talked about getting that momentum back for the (WAC) Tournament and now we got it."

The 'Bows are scheduled to depart today for Reno.

"We're back," Sottos declared. "All we needed was one win like this to get our confidence up again."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.