Monday, November 30, 1998
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
UH's Mike Robinson, right, goes in for a basket.
The Tigers defeated the Rainbows, 84-57, in the final
of the United Airlines Tip-Off Tournament.
Tigers blast
‘Bows
Auburn hands UH its worst
By Bill Kwon
defeat in four years to claim
the United Airlines title
Star-BulletinTalk about a first impression being a lasting one.
Hawaii sure won't forget its first-ever basketball meeting with Auburn.
The Tigers handed the Rainbows their worst defeat in four years, waltzing to an 84-57 victory in the championship game of the United Airlines Tip-Off Tournament last night in front of 7,699 spectators at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It was close at the half, 36-30, but the unbeaten Tigers won going away for their sixth consecutive victory. The 'Bows fell to 2-3.
"They're a very good basketball team. I knew that going in," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "We just don't play well against the good ones. We're five games into the season and we haven't beaten a good team yet."
The Rainbows' previous two losses were against California and Oklahoma State.
The Tigers made it look easy, scoring at will and forcing the Rainbows to commit 20 turnovers -- eight on in-bound passes with their trapping, full-court press.
The press didn't catch his team off guard, Wallace said.
"That was no surprise. We worked on it. It was just a matter of execution and the guys just weren't into it mentally tonight."
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Johnny White (11) drives past Auburn's
Doc Robinson during last night's game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Tigers defeated the Rainbows, 84-57, in the final of the
United Airlines Tip-Off Tournament.
Obviously, the Tigers worked on it better as they took the Rainbows completely out of their game."It just became ugly in the second half. They dropped their heads a little bit in the second half and Auburn took advantage of it," Wallace said.
"We played very good defense," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. "I thought our defense gave up the opportunity to get out in front early."
In the second half, the Auburn defense took away Hawaii's inside game, Ellis said.
"We played as well as we can play," he said.
Ellis is mildly surprised by his team's 6-0 start -- Auburn's best start since the 1986-87 season, when it began 7-0.
"We've had three quality wins in Hawaii, Rutgers and BYU," said Ellis, whose Tigers are enjoying a whopping margin of victory (31.1 points). "We just try to keep taking that one at a time."
Meanwhile, it has been lose, win, lose, win and lose for the inconsistent Rainbows.
Mike Robinson led the 'Bows with 17 points. But they got zero points from the off-guard position as Mike McIntyre and Geremy Robinson, went a combined 0-for-6 from the floor.
"I told you all along we've been having trouble with that spot," Wallace said. "They just don't get into it and after it. That's why we're searching around."
After Auburn shot out to an 8-1 start, Hawaii went ahead for the only time in the game, 11-10, on Erin Galloway's jam. Casey Cartwright added a pair of free throws, but that was all she wrote for the 'Bows.
Jay Heard nailed the first of his three 3-pointers to tie it at 13, and Chris Porter -- whom the Tigers hope will be the Second Coming of Charles Barkley -- put his team ahead to stay with a driving layup.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Marquette Alexander loses control of the ball
and tries to get it back during last night's loss to Auburn.
Another 8-1 spurt by the Tigers to open the second half turned the game into a runaway. They shot 49.3 percent from the floor and dominated the boards, 42-31."You got to get all of the rebounds. That's the main part of the game," Porter said.
The press helped, too, according to the 6-foot-7 Porter, regarded as Auburn's best signee since Barkley.
"We wanted to give them (the Rainbows) a hard time getting the ball in and down the floor easy. It wore them down also," Porter said.
Rutgers 74, Wichita St. 64: Geoff Billet scored 22 points and Rutgers was 36-for-43 from the free throw line as the Knights (3-1) defeated the Shockers (1-3) in the consolation game.
The Knights won without coach Kevin Bannon on the bench. Bannon was feeling flu-like symptoms and remained behind at the team's hotel, a Rutgers spokesman said. Assistant Tod Kowalczyk took over for Bannon.
Wichita State, which attempted 16 free throws and made 11, committed eight fouls in the last two minutes in a desperate attempt to close the gap on the Knights.
Billet was 10-for-10 from the line for the game, making six free throws in the final two minutes.
Rob Hodgson added 13 points for Rutgers and also had a team-high seven rebounds. Jeff Greer had 10 points, going 7-for-8 from the line.
The loss overshadowed a 30-point performance by Maurice Evans, as only five Shockers scored. Jason Perez scored 19, meaning he and Evans accounted for all but 15 Wichita State points.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
United Airlines
Tipoff TournamentAt Stan Sheriff Center
Tigers (6-0)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Porter 26 5 12 1 4 9 3 11 Pohlman 29 7 11 3 4 4 0 19 B. Smith 27 4 6 0 2 6 3 8 N’diaye 17 3 4 2 4 4 4 8 D. Robinson 28 5 10 1 3 0 2 12 Sharp 13 1 4 0 0 1 3 2 Heard 17 3 6 4 4 3 1 13 Fishback 3 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 McGadney 10 1 3 0 0 2 2 3 A. Smith 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chilliest 5 1 1 0 0 3 0 2 Hamilton 22 3 7 0 0 6 1 6 Team 4 Totals 200 33 67 11 21 42 21 84Rainbows (2-3)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Galloway 18 1 2 3 4 6 3 5 McIntyre 23 0 4 0 0 2 1 0 M. Robinson 37 7 15 3 4 5 3 17 White 36 3 9 5 7 2 4 11 Cartwright 25 3 6 4 4 2 3 12 Lee 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Czernin 15 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 G. Robinson 13 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 Gillman 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Alexander 25 4 12 4 5 8 5 12 Team 3 Totals 200 18 51 19 26 31 20 57Halftime score--Auburn 36, Hawaii 30.3-point goals--Auburn 7-16 (Heard 3-3, Pohlman 2-5, D. Robinson 1-1, McGadney 1-2, Sharp 0-1, Fishback 0-1, A. Smith 0-1). UH 2-9 (Cartwright 2-4, Lee 0-1, McIntyre 0-4).
Assists--Auburn 15 (D. Robinson 8), UH 10 (McIntyre 2, M. Robinson 2, White 2, Czernin 2). Turnovers--Auburn 12 (Porter 2, B. Smith 2, N'diaye 2). UH 20 (Galloway 4, M. Robinson 4, Cartwright 4). Steals--Auburn 11 (Porter 5). UH 4 (White 2). Blocked shots--Auburn 2 (Porter 1, Hamilton 1). UH 5 (Galloway 4).
Technical--M. Robinson.
Officials: Vern Harris, Ron Hernandez, Pat Tanibe.
Rutgers: Billet 5-9 10-10 22, Greer 1-5 7-8 10, Kent 2-2 5-6 9, Hodgson 3-4 6-7 13, Jones 1-5 1-2 3, Salvi 3-4 2-2 8, Johnson 2-6 3-4 7, Dabney 0-3 2-4 2. Totals 17-38 36-43 74.
Wichita St.: Lemons 2-8 0-2 5, Evans 11-18 5-5 30, Steven 3-3 0-0 6, Martina 0-1 0-0 0, Westgeest 1-5 2-3 4, Lewis 0-4 0-0 0, Mack 0-0 0-0 0,Smithson 0-1 0-0 0, Bunch 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 11-16 64.
Halftime--Rutgers 34, Wichita St. 24. Fouled out--Lemons, Westgeest. Total fouls--Rutgers 15, Wichita St. 32. Technicals--Martina. A--7,699.
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