Saturday, December 5, 1998
Reese shoots
UH to pieces
The Georgia State guard hits
By Pat Bigold
for 34 points as Hawaii loses both
games in its PowerBar Invitational
Star-BulletinDefending Georgia State's Anton Reese last night at the Stan Sheriff Center was like trying to put out an oil-rig fire.
There wasn't much more Hawaii could do but hope the junior guard would burn himself out. He didn't.
Reese scored 34 points and the Panthers (2-4) defeated Hawaii, 72-62, before 4,543 fans in the third-place game of the Power- Bar Invitational.
The 6-foot-3 Reese, who transferred to Georgia State after starting 17 games as a sophomore at the University of Alabama, scored 21 of his points in Hawaii's "black hole" -- the second half.
Sophomore forward Brian Heinle (19 points) led a successful Cal State-Northridge rally against the Rainbows with 7-for-9 shooting in the second half of Thursday night's 89-79 loss.
Last night, Reese sank 80 percent of his shots in the second half, including three of four 3-point attempts.
"He was in that zone and he was feeling it," said Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace. "Any time you made a mistake he could hit from anywhere on the floor, and every time you make a comeback, a guy like that can kill you."
On Thursday night, Coppin State doubled up on Reese and held him to 4 of 16 shooting enroute to beating Georgia State, 66-56.
But Hawaii (2-5), which tried a zone in a loss to Cal State Northridge, went to a man-to-man scheme against the Panthers and Reese ate it up.
"Coach just let me go," said Reese, who leads his team with a 23.5 scoring average.
Hawaii led three times in the first half but went into intermission trailing, 31-26.
"We were just trying to play tough man-to-man defense and he was just hitting the tough shots," said Hawaii point guard Johnny White. "Every shot we were in his face but he was still hitting the tough shots."
Georgia State coach Lefty Driesell was pleased with Reese's performance but said he wants even more out of him.
"He's a good shooter, but last year our leading scorer led us in assists and steals, too, and that's what I want him to do," he said.
Reese, who set a school record with nine 3-pointers in a 78-71 loss to Kansas State on Nov. 29, burned the Rainbows with the downtown shot twice to break the press in the second half.
Trailing, 51-38, Hawaii went to a full-court press and reduced the Panthers' lead to 53-46 on a White alley-oop from Philipp Czernin.
But Reese drove and laid one in to make it 55-46.
Czernin's baseline layup knocked it back down to a seven-point lead, but Reese nailed a trey from the right side to make it 58-48.
Geremy Robinson tipped in a deuce but Reese fired long from the left side to make it 61-50.
Hawaii never got any closer.
"Any time you win, I think defense is where you win," said Driesell, whose team held Hawaii to 44 percent from the floor.
"We did a good job of shutting down their inside game. We shot the ball extremely well in the second half (14-for-17, 82 percent), so it was just one of those nights when the ball was dropping."
The Panthers shot 63 percent for the game and outrebounded the Rainbows, 30-22.
On the plus side, Hawaii had only 14 turnovers last night, compared with 25 the night before.
But it didn't matter.
"No, it didn't because our rebounding was down," said Wallace.
"But I was much more pleased tonight with our press. We got some steals but we just didn't convert them."
Hawaii forced 19 Georgia State turnovers.
"I was more pleased tonight than I have been because the guys didn't quit and they stayed in and worked with it. But we have to work on our interior defense because their big guys just go right in there, shoot and make 'em."
Senior forward Mike Robinson, who led Hawaii with 16 points, said it's time to go back to the drawing board defensively.
"Our man-to-man coverage in previous years has been great but this year it's not as good," he said. "The plus tonight is that the effort was there. We lost with heart."
Wallace said getting senior guard Casey Cartwright (sprained knee) back in the lineup will be a plus.
"You can't lose a potential 15-point-per-game scorer who knows all the offenses and is a pretty good defender," he said.
The Rainbows will be idle until they play in the Nike Festival on Dec. 18 at the Stan Sheriff Center against Eastern Illinois.
n Cal State Northridge 75, Coppin State 59: Brian Heinle had his second straight 19-point performance as the Matadors (5-2) won the PowerBar Invitational championship.
Heinle earned tournament MVP honors. He also grabbed 13 rebounds and had four assists against Coppin State.
Matadors head coach Bobby Braswell said Heinle reminds him of Keith Van Horn.
"He can shoot the ball on the outside and he can put the ball on the floor," he said.
At the Stan Sheriff Center PowerBar Invitational
Cal St. Northridge 75, Coppin St. 59
Coppin St.: Reavis 1-4 0-0 2, Pena 3-5 0-0 6, Sims 2-10 1-2 5, Warrick 5-18 4-10 15, Seamon 5-11 0-0 12, Hamond 0-2 2-2 2, Cajigas 3-9 4-4 11, Lee 1-1 0-0 2, Cooks 0-1 0-0 0, Watkins 1-5 2-3 4. Totals: 21-66 13-21 59.
CS-Northridge: Larry 6-11 4-4 17, Parris 2-4 4-4 8, Heinle 6-12 5-8 19, Carr 1-2 2-2 4, Higgins 4-6 1-3 9, Minor 2-5 0-0 6, Crowe 1-1 4-5 6, Holmes 1-5 2-2 4, Rolle 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 24-48 22-28 75.
Halftime--CS-Northridge 30, Coppin St. 19. Total fouls--Coppin St. 21, CS Northridge 18. Technicals--Coppin St. bench. A--NA
Panthers (2-5 overall)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Nieves 38 0 1 2 3 3 2 2 Reese 36 13 18 3 5 4 3 34 King 29 4 5 2 2 2 5 10 Robertson 37 6 11 2 4 6 3 14 Gresham 30 3 5 2 2 8 3 8 Searcy 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Davis 8 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Hill 15 2 5 0 1 2 1 4 Team 3 Totals 200 28 44 11 17 30 18 72Rainbows (2-5 overall)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp McIntrye 15 1 5 0 0 0 1 3 M. Robinson 29 7 13 2 4 3 4 16 Lee 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 White 39 3 7 2 2 3 3 8 Alexander 21 2 7 1 2 2 1 5 Galloway 30 2 5 3 5 3 2 7 Czernin 34 5 7 1 1 4 5 11 G. Robinson 26 4 10 2 4 5 3 12 Gillman 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Team 2 Totals 200 24 54 11 18 22 19 62Halftime score--Hawaii 00, Visitor 00.3-point goals--GS 5-7 (Reese 5-7), UH 3-13 (G. Robinson 2-5, McIntrye 1-3).
Assists--GS 11 (Nieves 5), UH 12 (White 5). Turnovers--GS 19 (Reese 4), UH 14 (White 5). Steals--GS 9 (Nieves 4), UH 8 (White 4). Blocked shots--GS 2 (Hill 2), UH 3 (M. Robinson 2).
Technicals--None.
A--7,332. Officials: Richard Ball, Greg Burks, Brian Yamasaki.
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