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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Wednesday, March 9, 2005

UH's Botez making big contribution

 •  WAC Basketball Tournament: Rainbow Warriors play on

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

RENO, Nev. — Chris Botez has now played two consecutive solid games for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.

CHRIS BOTEZ

It's no surprise that the Rainbow Warriors have won both games.

Botez had 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and was the defensive leader in a 72-48 victory over San Jose State yesterday in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.

Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace credited Botez as the primary factor in San Jose State shooting just 36 percent from the field.

"By (Botez) locking the middle up, we were able to stay on our guys and cover," Wallace said.

It was not exactly an easy task for Botez. His primary defensive assignment was to guard San Jose State's leading scorer, Marquin Chandler.

Botez is a 7-foot junior; Chandler is a 6-7 senior who entered the game averaging 19.8 points per game. He scored 32 in a loss to Hawai'i last month.

"We had to contain Chandler," Wallace said. "And Botez guarded him with a longer body and changed a lot of his shots and made him work for everything he got."

Chandler scored 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting, although nine of his points came in the second half after the game was all but decided.

"He's a great guy, a great player," Botez said of Chandler. "I just had to have the heart to lock him up, basically."

Chandler said "the game wasn't more physical than normal," although he did appear to express his frustrations to the officials several times.

Botez said: "If the refs are going to let us play as much as we can, I'm going to keep going at him until they tell us to relax."

He used the same philosophy when he had eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots in a victory over Fresno State last Saturday.

Johnson bids farewell

Phil Johnson officially ended his stint as head coach of San Jose State yesterday. Johnson announced his resignation — effective at the end of this season — on Monday.

"When a program doesn't get better, the coach takes the blame," Johnson said. "I accept responsibility."

Johnson and Wallace have been coaching against each other since they were at rival junior colleges in Oklahoma in the 1980s.

"It has nothing to do with his coaching because he's one heck of a basketball coach," Wallace said. "He'll surface in a good situation."

Sensley shaken

Hawai'i forward Julian Sensley dropped to the court and had to momentarily leave the game early in the first half after a head-to-head collision with teammate Botez.

After the game, Sensley said he was fine. "It's good now, but when it happened I couldn't see straight," he said.

UH gets bench help

Hawai'i is only carrying 10 players on its roster, and all 10 scored.

"We got everybody in the ball game, which was important at this stage," Wallace said. "We want to keep them rested because you have to play four games, you hope."

Two walk-on players did not make the trip, and sophomore reserve Kris Groce was dismissed from the team on Monday.

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