Monday, November 16, 1998
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Philipp Czernin drives the baseline
against California's Michael Gill.
UH drops
opener
The Rainbows stumble in
By Cindy Luis
the second half en route to
a 71-60 loss to Cal
Star-BulletinThe magic was gone.
The only part of the show that remained was the disappearing act. Disappearing last night vs. California were:
Senior forward Erin Galloway -- 1-for-2 from the field with his first attempt coming with 8:32 left in the game.
There was quite a bit of work for the Rainbows (0-1) when they returned to practice this afternoon. They can thank the Golden Bears (1-0) for pointing out all the deficiencies during last night's 71-60 defeat at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 7,469 (8,987 tickets issued) saw Hawaii, which led 34-30 at the half, lose its first season opener since the 1993-94 season. If there's any consolation, the Rainbows lost their first four games that year, but ended up going to the NCAA Tournament.
"What's frustrating is it was a winnable game," said Cartwright, who led the Rainbows with 15 points and eight assists. "We let it slip away. The game is all about getting the ball inside to our guys and it didn't happen.
"We need to work on our defense. We need to work on our condition. We were kind of flat during the last part of the game."
Senior forward Mike Robinson gave the Rainbows their last lead, 49-48, on a baseline jumper with eight minutes to play. But over the next five minutes, Hawaii committed three fouls and four turnovers.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Johnny White, left, of Hawaii tries to drive around Carl
Boyd of California in yesterday's game at the Stan Sheriff Center
The Rainbows' only points during that span came on a goaltending call as the Bears pulled away, 62-51. At one point, Cal hit 13 consecutive free throws. By the time Thomas Kilgore missed one, there were 98 seconds left and the Bears were in control, 67-58.Cal, ranked 27th in the AP preseason poll, gave coach Ben Braun his second season-opening victory in three years.
Senior guard Geno Carlisle led all scorers with 26 points -- 16 in the second half. Senior forward Michael Gill added 14 points and 10 rebounds and senior center Francisco Elson, hampered by early foul troubled, finished with 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the floor.
"The important thing for me was not to go out and get cheap fouls," said Elson, who played just four minutes in the first half, but all 20 minutes of the second. "We had never seen Hawaii play. Coach said to go out and play hard for as long you can, to play with our hearts.
"To be a good team, you have to stick together and be on the same page."
Hawaii's players were at least reading the same playbook for most of the game. Only two players with considerable playing time -- Robinson and Galloway -- return from the 21-9 team that fell one game short of the NIT semifinals last season.
Of the newcomers, junior point guard Johnny White was among the most impressive (11 points, five assists). Redshirt freshman swingman Phil Czernin also looked good (nine points).
"Our strategy in the first half was good," Czernin said. "In the second half, we fell apart. We didn't execute. We played poor defense. We have a lot of work in the next couple of weeks.
"It's real disappointing how we came out and played in the second half. This was a winnable game. We need to do a better job of feeding the ball to the guys inside. That's our strength this year."
It was a major weakness last night. Galloway took two shots, both in the second half. Marquette Alexander took seven shots, Geremy Robinson six.
"Part of the difference was keeping Elson on the floor and not on the bench in the second half," Braun said. "He has such a presence (at 7-feet, 235 pounds). He makes so many good things happen for you.
"He did a good job in the zone (defense) and we didn't give Hawaii anything inside. In the first half, we were giving up easy baskets on the back-doors. We thought there were things we could correct in the second half."
Cal adjusted. Hawaii could not.
"I thought everyone had their moments," Rainbow coach Riley Wallace said. "We saw enough to be able to go back and work on it in practice. We shot better than they did (48 percent to 43 percent from the floor) and we out-rebounded them (38-35). But we had way too many fouls and way too many turnovers."
The Rainbows had 20 assists, but that was neutralized by the 20 fouls and 20 turnovers.
Hawaii was 3-for-6 from the line, all in the first half. Cal was 3-for-8 in the first half, 18-for-21 in the second.
"We didn't get to the line once (in the second half)," Wallace said. "And I don't know were Erin went. He and Mike (Robinson) have to pick it up and play harder.
"I'm OK with this game. It could have been a lot worse. We showed good signs for 30 minutes. If we can get that last 10 minutes down, we'll win some ball games."
Hawaii gets its next chance Thursday when it hosts the VoiceStream Wireless Challenge. No. 13 Oklahoma State plays Marquette in the 5 p.m. opener followed by Hawaii vs. Nicholls State game.
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Kilgore 35 2 8 3 4 4 2 7 Boyd 29 3 5 2 4 5 2 8 Carlisle 35 7 20 10 11 2 1 26 Gill 35 4 13 4 6 10 2 14 Elson 24 5 6 0 2 8 2 10 Gates 7 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 King 9 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Jones 7 1 2 0 0 3 0 2 Gordon 19 1 1 2 2 2 0 4 Team 1 Totals 200 23 57 21 29 35 12 71
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Galloway 28 1 2 0 0 7 3 2 M.Robinson 29 5 10 0 0 6 5 10 White 32 5 11 0 2 2 2 11 Cartwright 35 5 9 2 2 2 1 15 G.Robinson 11 2 6 0 0 2 0 4 McIntyre 7 1 3 0 0 1 2 3 Lee 13 2 6 0 0 2 0 4 Czernin 22 4 6 1 2 3 4 9 Alexander 22 1 7 0 0 10 3 2 Moeller 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Team 3 Totals 200 26 60 3 6 38 20 60Halftime score--Hawaii 34, California 30.3-point goals--California 4-12 (Gill 2-3, Carlisle 2-6, Gates 0-1, Kilgore 0-1, King 0-1), UH 5-15 (Cartwright 3-7, McIntyre 1-3, White 1-3, Lee 0-1, M. Robinson 0-1).
Assists--California 13 (Boyd, Kilgore 3), UH 20 (Cartwright 8). Turnovers--California 13, UH 20. Steals--California 9 (Kilgore 4), UH 4 (Alexander, Czernin, M. Robinson, White). Blocked shots--California 4 (Elson 3), UH 4 (Alexander, Cartwright, G. Robinson, M. Robinson). A--8,987. Officials--Larry Stubing, Ed Ristau, Craig Peterson.
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