Friday, February 20, 1998
By mathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Anthony Carter (23) and Mike Robinson
leap for a rebound last night.
The Rainbows move into
By Cindy Luis
fourth place in the WAC
Star-BulletinLike a cat that appears passively interested in capturing its prey, the University of Hawaii men's basketball team batted Rice around for the first 25 minutes of last night's Western Athletic Conference game. But just when the Owls thought they might escape with an upset, closing to 39-35 with 14:39 left, the Rainbows closed in for the kill.
Led by the tallest "guard" in America -- 6-foot-8 junior Erin Galloway -- the Rainbows quit playing around with their WAC Tournament hopes and pounced on Rice for a 69-50 win at the Stan Sheriff Center.
In a 4-12-minute span, the Rainbows ripped off a 14-2 run that put the game -- and possibly Rice's postseason chances -- out of reach. The highlight of the spurt was Galloway dribbling through traffic for three-quarters of the court, loping in for a spinning jam and sinking the free throw after being fouled.
It ignited the crowd of 7,047 and had the Hawaii players erupting in laughter. After a tough few weeks where they lost six of nine games and nearly played themselves out of the WAC Tournament, the Rainbows were having fun again.
Hawaii (16-7 overall, 5-6 WAC) moved into fourth place, a half-game ahead of SMU and a game ahead of San Diego State. The Rainbows host Tulsa tomorrow and close the regular season at San Jose State on Thursday and Fresno State next Saturday.
"It's been frustrating the past month, but everybody knows what they want to do now," said Hawaii senior guard Anthony "AC" Carter, who scored only seven points, but had 12 assists and five steals. "We let up when we got into the Top 25 (in early January). But that's behind us.
"Defense was the fun part tonight. Everybody is working hard again."
UH opened with an oppressive man-to-man defense, then switched to a stifling zone. The Rainbows took away the Owls' favorite shots inside and out.
By mathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Anthony Carter sprints for the goal with T.J. Armstrong (3)
and teammate in hot pursuit.
Bobby Crawford and Robert Johnson, who combined for 53 points and 12 of Rice's 13 3-pointers last month, had 19 points and one 3-pointer between them. The Owls' leading scorer, Jarvis Kelley Sanni, took just six shots to finish with a career-low two points, 12 below his average."They were doing a good job with the double-team and I was kicking it back out," said Kelley Sanni, whose only points came on a putback with 6:40 left in the first half. "I was trying to find people, but our passes turned into turnovers (21 on the night).
"We did a solid job in our half-court defense, but they got a majority of their baskets in transition. And (Alika) Smith shot the ball much better than he did the last time."
Smith, held to a season-low seven points in the Jan. 22 game, finished with a game-high 20 last night. The senior guard had 14 points in the first half to help UH to a 31-24 lead at intermission.
"I didn't really think about how I did the last time," said Smith, 7-for-11 from the field, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range. "I just wanted to establish ourselves defensively. We did that, then jumped into the zone, got some steals off of it and that ignited us."
As for Galloway, "I think he's trying to take AC's or my spot," Smith said. "Maybe he's thinking about wanting to play the two-spot (shooting guard) next year when I'm gone. I thought he'd give the ball up. It was a great move."
The move to again start Galloway and Mike Robinson together paid off, with Robinson blocking three shots and scoring 14 points, including Hawaii's first two baskets off passes from Carter. Casey Cartwright, starting in place of Micah Kroeger, played solid defense.
Kroeger, who didn't start for disciplinary reasons, came off the bench for the first time this season and scored 10 points. Kroeger, Carter, Smith, Robinson, Eric Ambrozich, Ales Zivanovic and Luke Meyers will take their senior dunks after tomorrow's last regular-season home game.
"The way I look at it, we're 2-0 in the new WAC," Smith said. "After the TCU game, we've put together two good games and we're looking to roll on."
"Every game is important from now on," Carter said. "We need all the wins we can get just to make it to the WAC Tournament.
"Tulsa is a big game. We're going to do it as long as we stay focused and are ready to play. People were expecting us to do bad, but we've proved them wrong. We're sticking together."
Crawford finished with 13 points and T.J. Armstrong 10 for Rice, which fell to 6-19 and 3-8. The Owls are at San Diego State tomorrow. The Aztecs lost to Tulsa last night, 65-60.
Box Score
Hawaii 69, Rice 50
At Stan Sheriff Center
Owls (6-19 overall; 3-8 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Stringer 17 1 2 0 0 4 1 3 Johnson 25 1 5 4 4 1 3 6 Crawford 34 5 12 2 2 3 3 13 Kelley Sanni 30 1 6 0 0 8 2 2 Michaelis 29 2 9 1 2 4 2 5 Armstrong 14 4 6 2 4 1 1 10 Tyndell 8 2 2 0 1 3 1 5 Thomson 7 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 Wilks 22 1 4 0 0 2 2 2 Bougaieff 14 2 4 0 0 4 2 4 Team 6 Totals 200 19 51 7 10 38 17 50Rainbows (16-7 overall; 5-6 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Galloway 28 4 6 1 1 8 3 9 M. Robinson 27 6 13 2 2 4 0 14 Smith 37 7 11 2 3 1 2 20 Cartwright 17 0 3 2 2 3 2 2 Carter 34 2 12 2 2 5 1 7 Hook 6 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Meyers 0+ 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Kroeger 27 4 9 2 5 7 2 10 Zivanovic 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Silva 0+ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 R. Robinson 0+ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Penebacker 0+ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ambrozich 21 2 5 3 3 1 3 7 Hall 0+ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moeller 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Team 2 Totals 200 25 62 14 18 33 14 69Halftime score--Hawaii 31, Rice 24.3-point goals--RU 5-16 (Armstrong 2-4, Tyndell 1-1, Stringer 1-2, Crawford 1-5, Michaelis 0-1, Johnson 0-3), UH 5-16 (Smith 4-7, Carter 1-3, Meyers 0-1, Zivanovic 0-1, Cartwright 0-2, Kroeger 0-2).
Assists--RU 11 (Wilks 4), UH 20 (Carter 12, Smith 4, Ambrozich 2, Cartwright 1, Kroeger 1). Turnovers--RU 21 (Kelley Sanni 6), UH 11 (Carter 5, Kroeger 2, Galloway 1, M. Robinson 1, Ambrozich 1). Steals--RU 2 (Kelley Sanni 1, Armstrong 1) UH 9 (Carter 5, M. Robinson 1, Smith 1, Kroeger 1, Ambrozich 1). Blocked shots--RU 1 (Michaelis 1), UH 5 (M. Robinson 3, Galloway 2).
Technicals--none.
A--7,047 (turnstile), 8,891 (tickets distributed). Officials: Stubing, Payon, Ristau.
Tulsa time
1997-98 Rainbow Men's Basketball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
