Tuesday, March 17, 1998

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Anthony Carter exhorts the crowd to "turn it up"
against Gonzaga. The "sixth man" played a
pivotal role, by all accounts.

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A broken nose and
rabid fans pump up Hawaii in
an emotion-filled victory

By Dave Reardon
Special to the Star-Bulletin

There's one sure way to fire up a close team: Make one of its members bleed.

Whether Bakari Hendrix's elbow to the nose of Eric Ambrozich midway through the first half was intentional or not didn't really matter.

Just the sight of Ambrozich bleeding and the news minutes later that his nose was broken was enough to keep his Hawaii teammates pumped and enough to keep the full house of fans on the back of Gonzaga's best player throughout last night's 78-70 NIT second-round victory at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"We didn't want him to go out that way and end it that way," Rainbow forward Micah Kroeger said. "We wanted him to have another chance to finish his college career on the court."

Ambrozich did not return after the injury, but coach Riley Wallace said he might be able to play in Thursday's quarterfinal game here against Fresno State.

"The crowd got on me a bit, especially after the elbow," Hendrix said. "It was unintentional. He had been crowding me a lot. In the heat of the battle I extended my elbows to protect the rebound, like I was taught. I hope he's all right."

Intentions and apologies aside, the play (for which no foul was called) upped the ante emotionally.

"It was unnecessary. Eric wasn't going for the ball," Rainbow forward Erin Galloway said. "Everybody was fired up after that, but we knew we needed to concentrate on playing basketball rather than getting back at them with a dirty shot."

Galloway was more vocal on the court than he'd been all season after the Ambrozich injury. He was also spectacular often, with 10 of his 15 points coming on dunks.

"They were letting me get right in to the basket," he said. "I think they were looking more for AC (Carter) and Alika (Smith). It's easy to get lost when you have two great teammates."

Carter delivered 11 of his career-high 33 points down the stretch, after the Bulldogs made up a 13-point deficit in four minutes, tying it at 62 with 5:39 left.

Backup guard Quentin Hall led the charge with seven of his nine points and some gritty defense on Carter. Then his tank hit empty.

"I think I ran him to death," Carter said. "When I ran past him (to score a driving layup) when it was 62-all, he called a timeout on his own and his coach asked him what he was doing."

Hall admitted to fatigue.

"I was (tired). I was playing so hard, and then it just struck me," he said. "I must say (Carter's) a great athlete. Strong, physical, the whole package."

As Indiana and Kansas learned earlier this season, you've got to be ready for the Hawaii fans, too. The sellout crowd, already pumped from the start, was fueled by eight Rainbow dunks (including two by Galloway in the first minute), the Ambrozich injury, and Carter's artistry.

When Carter hit a 17-footer with 3:03 left, it was the loudest the place has ever been.

"Wyoming was like this and Michigan State was a tough place to play," Gonzaga coach Don Monson said. "Hey, what is this, 34 games into the season? At that point it's not the loudness that affects your team. But the crowd got into it because we didn't play well for long stretches."

Box Score

Hawaii 78, Gonzaga 70

At Stan Sheriff Center

Bulldogs (24-10)

		mp	fgm	fga	ftm	fta	reb	pf	tp
Santangelo	35	4	15	0	0	1	2	9
Frahm		31	5	12	0	0	2	2	13
Nilson		11	1	1	2	2	2	3	4
Hendrix		36	10	22	4	7	13	1	26
Griffin		14	0	0	2	2	3	0	2
Hall		28	3	8	2	5	4	4	9
Floyd		3	0	0	1	2	0	0	1
Leasure		12	1	1	0	0	3	2	3
Dench		11	1	3	0	0	3	2	3
Calvary		19	0	2	0	0	7	5	0
Team							3
Totals		200	25	64	11	18	41	21	70

Rainbows (21-8)

		mp	fgm	fga	ftm	fta	reb	pf	tp
Galloway	35	6	10	3	5	7	4	15
M. Robinson	33	4	14	1	2	13	4	9
Kroeger		33	1	1	3	5	3	3	5
Smith		40	7	15	0	0	4	2	14
Carter		40	13	23	6	7	2	3	33
Cartwright	8	0	1	1	2	4	0	1
Zivanovic	8	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
Ambrozich	3	0	1	1	2	1	0	1
Moeller		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Team							6
Totals		200	31	66	15	23	41	17	78

Halftime score--Hawaii 42, Gonzaga 35.

3-point goals--GU 9-23 (Frahm 3-7, Hendrix 2-4, Leasure 1-1, Dench 1-1, Hall 1-4, Santangelo 1-6), UH 1-8 (Carter 1-3, M. Robinson 0-1, Smith 0-4).

Assists--GU 19 (Santangelo 6, Hall 6, Frahm 3, Nilson 1, Hendrix 1, Leasure 1, Calvary 1), UH 15 (Smith 5, Carter 5, Kroeger 2, M. Robinson 2, Galloway 1). Turnovers--GU 15 (Santangelo 5, Hendrix 3, Griffin 2, Hall 2, Frahm 1, Nilson 1, Leasure 1), UH 11 (Carter 6, Galloway 2, Kroeger 2, Smith 1). Steals--GU 5 (Hall 2, Santangelo 1, Frahm 1, Nilson 1), UH 8 (Smith 5, M. Robinson 1, Kroeger 1, Carter 1). Blocked shots--GU 2 (Hendrix 1, Calvary 1), UH 2 (Galloway 1, Carter 1).

Technicals--None.

A--10,254. Officials: Scott, Scyphers, Chelette.

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1997-98 Rainbow Men's Basketball Schedule

http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu