Thursday, March 12, 1998
'Bows level Devils
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Alika Smith drives past Arizona State's Mike Batiste for a layup in last night's game.
After dominating ASU in
By Cindy Luis
the first round of the NIT,
Hawaii will host Gonzaga
Star-BulletinIt was payback time.
Not to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee after Hawaii was snubbed a second year in a row.
Not to the Western Athletic Conference basketball coaches for not selecting any Rainbows to the all-conference first team.
Last night, it was payback time for Anthony Carter. Time for the University of Hawaii senior guard to make good on some scoring and play-making debts he had accrued in last week's loss to UNLV.
"I owed this team a lot of points and a lot of defensive plays," said Carter, whose season-high 28 points helped carry the Rainbows over Arizona State, 90-73, in a first-round NIT game. "My back wasn't hurting tonight like it was in Vegas. I gave it all I got.
"When you're feeling good, you got to do what you got to do."
Carter & Co. got it done in front of 9,195 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center, advancing the Rainbows to a second-round home game against Gonzaga on Monday or Tuesday night. The Bulldogs (24-9) eliminated host Wyoming last night, 69-55.
The Rainbows improved to 20-8, their second straight season with 20 or more wins.
"We know nothing about them (Gonzaga)," said Rainbow senior guard Alika Smith, who added 22 points. "But we know they won't be an easy team to beat if they went up and won at Wyoming, which is not an easy place to play. We've got our work cut out for us.
"If we come out and play like we did tonight, we'll beat them. Personally, there was a lot of pressure, wanting to prove we deserved to be in the NCAAs. We wanted to go out and give a good showing. Good things happen when you stick together. You saw that tonight."
Hawaii played a tenacious man-defense the entire 40 minutes, sticking to the Sun Devils like sand on a suntan-lotioned body. Micah Kroeger did an impressive job on Jeremy Veal, the Pac-10's leading scorer, holding the senior guard to 11 first-half points, four on free throws.
Veal finished with a game-high 30 points, inflating his numbers late in the game with three consecutive layups off steals. ASU had no one else in double figures as Hawaii's defense denied the Sun Devils their inside game, limiting the post players to a combined six baskets on 15 attempts.
Mike Robinson, Erin Galloway and Eric Ambrozich took turns clogging the defensive paint. Ambrozich grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and Robinson finished with nine boards and 15 points.
"It's always fun when the team is playing well and the house is full," said UH associate head coach Bob Nash, a member of the last Rainbow team to have back-to-back 20-win seasons (1970-72).
"I don't want to compare it to things that happened in the past. This team does things on its own merit. Two 20-win seasons in a row is a tribute to these guys and how they come to work hard and do their best at every turn.
"Some nights we've fallen short. Tonight, it was a great team effort. They accepted the challenge to play a tough man-to-man all night. They limited their 3-point shooters to a lower percentage than normal. If (the Sun Devils) hadn't made their free throws, it could have been ugly."
ASU, the leading free-throw shooting team in the Pac-10 (.745), hit its first eight and finished 19 of 25 from the line. During a three-minute span early in the second half, free throws were about the only shots the Sun Devils were making as Hawaii padded its 44-34 halftime lead with a 22-10 run.
Carter converted a steal into a layup to give the Rainbows their biggest lead, 70-47, with 11:40 left. He slid on his back, grimacing in pain. But unlike last week's game at Las Vegas, when he had just seven points, the pain did not affect his game.
The All-American honorable mention pick was 6-for-7 from the field in the first half and 11-for-15 for the game, with most of his baskets coming on layups. Carter also had eight assists, overshadowing ASU's Ahlon Lewis, the nation's assist leader, who had six.
"It was a lot of fun tonight," Carter said. "A big part of it is everyone is on the same page. Everybody's healthy and we executed our offense.
"We wanted to get as many layups as possible and I'd say we did a pretty good job of that."
The Rainbows had 22 assists in hitting 37 field goals. Hawaii shot 60 percent in the second half, 55 percent for the game.
"If Hawaii keeps playing at home, I could see them going all the way to New York (site of the NIT final four)," ASU head coach Don Newman said. "They played well in front of this great crowd.
"How well they do will depend on what team they play and where. But I could see them playing competitively with any of the teams in this field."
After last night's game, Hawaii coach Riley Wallace thanked the crowd, congratulating them on being "the best fans in America. Please come back next week and raise hell."
Hawaii 90, Arizona State 73
Sun Devils (18-14)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tpRainbows (20-8)Lazor 29 3 7 3 7 3 1 9
House 28 2 11 0 0 3 2 5
Lewis 39 3 11 2 2 4 3 9
Veal 36 10 16 8 8 2 1 30
Batiste 29 1 4 4 4 10 4 6
Jones 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0
DuBois 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0
Patton 15 3 7 1 1 2 1 7
D. Smith 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 2
Kelly 19 2 4 1 2 1 2 5
Team 3
Totals 200 25 64 19 25 30 14 73
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tpHalftime score-Hawaii 44, Arizona State 34.Galloway 19 1 6 1 2 6 4 3
Robinson 26 7 10 1 2 9 4 15
Kroeger 37 4 8 1 1 2 2 9
A. Smith 37 8 15 1 2 1 1 22
Carter 34 11 15 6 7 6 2 28
Hook 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Meyers 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cartwright 10 3 4 0 0 1 0 7
Zivanovic 8 0 1 0 0 1 1 0
Penebacker 0+ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ambrozich 26 3 8 0 0 12 2 6
Moeller 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Team 2
Totals 200 37 67 10 14 40 18 90
3-point goals-ASU 4-19, UH 6-15 (A. Smith 5-9, Cartwright 1-2, Carter 0-2, Kroeger 0-2). Assists-ASU 14, UH 22 (Carter 8, Ambrozich 5, Kroeger 4, A. Smith 3, Galloway 1, Cartwright 1). Turnovers-ASU 18, UH 20 (Kroeger 6, Carter 5, A. Smith 3, Robinson 2, Hook 1, Cartwright 1, Ambrozich 1, Moeller 1). Steals-ASU 9, UH 10 (A. Smith 3, Carter 3, Robinson 2, Kroeger 1, Ambrozich 1). Blocked shots-ASU 0, UH 6 (Robinson 2, Galloway 1, Kroeger 1, Carter 1, Ambrozich 1).
A-9,195. Officials: Omori, Carbone, Partlow.
Tickets for next week's second-round NITgame between Hawaii and Gonzaga will go on sale tomorrow beginning at 8 a.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center box office. Tickets on sale tomorrow
Ticket prices are $10 for UH students, $13 for the upper bowl and $15 for the lower bowl. If tickets are still available at noon tomorrow, telephone orders can be placed by calling 944-2697 for an additional $1 per ticket.
Sales will continue on Saturday from noon until 8 p.m. at the box office.
Season ticket-holders who preordered tickets can pick them up between noon and 8 p.m. Saturday, and beginning at 8 a.m. Monday at the box office. A photo ID is required to pick up tickets.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Anthony Carter goes to the hoop last night against Arizona State.
Lack of big men
hurts Sun Devils -- big timeHawaii's post players
By Dave Reardon
have their way with ASU
Special to the Star-BulletinCould another Arizona State big man have changed the outcome of Hawaii's 90-73 National Invitational Tournament victory over the visiting Sun Devils?
ASU started three guards, and the starting forwards were 6-foot-9 Bobby Lazor and 6-foot-8 Mike Batiste. The tallest player off the bench was 6-6 Urit Kelly.
But the Sun Devils refused to use their lack of height as an excuse.
"It's been a battle for us all season, trying to match up," said Batiste, who had 10 rebounds, but didn't have much help as Hawaii outboarded ASU, 40-30.
"We get outrebounded just about every game, so we never figure that as part of the equation," said point guard Ahlon Lewis, who leads the nation in assists per game. "We try to find other ways to compensate. Tonight we weren't able to do that."
Lewis didn't cry about the NBA-like tempo of the game, either, even though he is one of only seven scholarship players left on ASU's roster.
"That's the type of game we like to play," he said. "Our shots just didn't fall. And our defense and transition wasn't as good as we thought it would be."
As usual, Hawaii's guards handled the bulk of the scoring, as Anthony Carter and Alika Smith combined for 50 points (28 and 22, respectively). But domination inside made it much easier.
"We knew that stopping their big guys was the key. We had to box out," said Eric Ambrozich, who came off the bench to grab a game-high 12 rebounds. "It got real fun out there when we were running, getting the rebounds, throwing it out and getting the fast break going."
Mike Robinson had a field day inside, with 15 points, nine rebounds and two of the Rainbows' six blocks. Erin Galloway didn't shoot well, but played with confidence.
"We knew they didn't have depth, so they couldn't play aggressive in the post," said Galloway, who was only 1-for-6 from the floor, but had six rebounds, and according to assistant coach Bob Nash, played good defense.
"We didn't go out of our way to pound the ball inside," Nash said. "But we knew we could create some problems for them. Our big guys played very complete tonight. Eric had five assists, Erin passed well. They got the ball back out to the shooters."
Sun Devil coach Don Newman said the Rainbows built momentum off their home crowd, and especially, their fast break.
"They got their transition game going," Newman said. "If you don't answer, they can get away from you."
