Thursday, December 31, 1998
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Erin Galloway tries for the slam-dunk but t
he ball bounced off the rim during the Rainbows' loss
to Texas in the Rainbow Classic last night.
’Bows far
from classic
The UH basketball team loses
By Cindy Luis
for the seventh time in
its last eight games
Star-BulletinThis time a year ago, the Rainbows were reveling in perhaps the biggest win in the history of the Hawaii men's basketball program: the upset of No. 2 Kansas on national TV for the Rainbow Classic championship.
Three hundred and 65 days later, Hawaii is celebrating for a different reason. The Rainbows can only hope that the new year will be a new beginning for a team that has lost seven of its last eight games.
Tomorrow's practice will be as welcome as a hangover. Hawaii (3-9) will try to recuperate from a very disappointing fourth-place showing in this year's Rainbow Classic and regroup after being out-physicaled and out-finessed by Texas, 84-72, last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"My New Year's resolution for our team is that we all have the same goal, to work hard for each other and ourselves," Rainbow senior Mike Robinson said. "Everyone knows by now that we've got a young team. We're not jelling together, don't have the chemistry and we're having a hard time communicating.
"Hopefully, we'll get it together but we're very far from being ready for WAC play."
Robinson was one of the few Rainbows that stuck around to watch Princeton claim the 35th annual title with a 47-43 victory over North Carolina Charlotte. The senior forward's patience was rewarded with a spot on the all-tournament team.
Joining Robinson was Texas forward Gabe Muoneke. Muoneke led the Longhorns (4-8) with 25 points, including a pair of 3-pointers midway through the second half that put the game out of reach.
"Hawaii played hard but, after losing that close one to Princeton (50-46 Tuesday), we decided we didn't want to play like we were on vacation here," said Texas forward Kris Clack, adding 19 points and 11 rebounds. "We wanted to leave here on a good note. We executed and got the shots we wanted. When Hawaii started to make a run and got the crowd in it, we stopped it with our defense."
The Rainbows, trailing 37-29 at halftime, never got closer than four after intermission. Robinson hit his third 3-pointer of his career -- and second in as many nights -- to pull Hawaii to within 50-46 with 11:59 remaining.
The closest the Rainbows would get would be 6 after that as Texas pulled away helped by unbalanced officiating calls that put the Longhorns at the free-throw line 25 times in the second half. At one point, Hawaii had been called for 15 fouls to Texas' 3; the Rainbows made both their second-half free throws.
"The only time I ever get on an official is when the calls are inconsistent," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "And you could see me getting on the officials tonight about it."
But the Rainbows didn't lose the game at the line. They were never able to establish much of an inside game against the bigger and heavier Longhorns, or be much of an outside threat since their best 3-point shooter, Casey Cartwright, was bother by a knee problem.
Hawaii had little success boxing out and preventing second-chance baskets. Texas finished with a 45-33 advantage on the boards.
Junior forward Marquette Alexander matched-up the best but was hampered by early foul trouble. He fouled out with 17 points and 23 minutes of playing time.
Robinson led Hawaii with 21 points and eight rebounds. Texas center Chris Mihm added 11 points and 16 rebounds.
"I think we're competing better but we don't have enough guys who can score," Wallace said.
"Obviously, it's not the kind of tournament we wanted."
Princeton 48, UNC Charlotte 43: Gabe Lewullis wasn't expecting to be named the Classic's Most Outstanding Player. His teammate, senior guard Brian Earl, had been the MVP in the past four tournaments the Tigers had won.
But it was hard to overlook Lewullis, the 6-6 senior forward who hit two 3-pointers in a 21/2-minute span to rally Princeton (8-4) from a 37-31 deficit with 6:36 left. The Tigers then hit their last five free throws, including a pair by freshman center Chris Young with 24.9 seconds to go.
The 49ers had a shot at tying or winning the game but Galen Young's jumper missed and the 49ers' two tip-backs failed. Princeton guard C.J. Chapman grabbed the rebound and then capped his season high 17-point effort with two free throws with 7/10ths of a second to go.
"We're not that much better than the teams we beat here but we did get lucky bounces," said Princeton coach Bill Carmody.
Lewullis and Earl, who was also named to the all-tournament team, both played all 120 minutes of their three Classic games.
UNCC (8-5) got 10 points each from all-tourney pick Galen Young, Marlon Thomas and Diego Guevara.
Baker made up for his miserable free throw shooting (2-for-8) in the final minute of regulation and scored nine points in overtime, including four of five from the foul line.
The Seminoles (7-5) led 62-55 with 51.2 seconds left in regulation but the Racers' Aubrey Reese helped rally his team with a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left.
Baker and Reese shared scoring honors with 29 apiece. The Racers (10-2) had a huge advantage in rebounds, 50 to 28, including 22 off the offensive boards, but they could not offset the 10 point differential in free throws.
36TH CLASSIC FIELD: Villanova and Bradley will be making their fifth appearances in the Rainbow Classic when the 36th annual tournament is held next Dec. 27-30 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Four of the teams will be in their first Classic: Colorado, Gonzaga, Ohio and Oregon. Wake Forest, a 1985 participant, is also in the field, along with the host Rainbows.
Texas 84, Hawaii 72
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Muoneke 32 9 19 5 5 7 3 25 Mihm 33 4 12 3 4 16 3 11 Wagner 38 1 3 2 2 2 1 5 Clack 37 6 9 6 9 11 3 19 Vazquez 26 0 5 5 8 0 3 5 McColpin 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Carter 13 2 3 1 2 4 0 5 Clay 16 6 11 0 0 3 1 14 Team 2 Totals 200 28 62 22 30 45 16 84
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp M. Robinson 36 8 16 4 4 8 3 21 White 39 2 8 0 0 1 0 5 Cartwright 19 3 9 0 0 1 0 7 Czernin 21 1 1 0 2 2 1 2 Alexander 23 7 12 3 4 6 5 17 Galloway 20 2 5 4 4 3 3 8 McIntyre 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 Lee 24 3 9 0 0 4 5 6 Silva 0+ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G. Robinson 16 2 5 2 2 4 3 6 Gillman 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moeller 0+ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Team 4 Totals 200 28 67 13 16 33 22 72Halftime score--Texas 37, Hawaii 29.3-point goals--Texas 6-11 (Muoneke 2-2, Clay 2-3, Wagner 1-2, Clack 1-2, Vazquez 0-2, UH 3-11 (M . Robinson 1-1, White 1-1, Cartwright 1-5, McIntyre 0-1, G. Robinson 0-1, Lee 0-2.
Assists--Texas 12 (Wagner 4), UH 15 (White 8, Lee 4). Turnovers--Texas 12 (Clack 4), UH 9 (M. Robinson 4). Steals--Texas 7 (Muoneke 2, Mihm 2), UH 5 (M. Robinson 2). Blocked shots--Texas 3 (Mihm, Clack, Carter), UH 3 (Galloway 2).
A--8,111 tickets (4,386).
Officials: Gracey, Danner, Dixon.
Terrell Baker, Florida State; Mike Robinson, Hawaii; Gabe Muoneke, Texas; Brian Earl, Princeton; Galen Young, UNC Charlott.
MVP: Gabe Lewullis, Princeton.
Princeton: Lewullis 4-7 1-2 12, Rocca 0-0 0-0 0, Young 6-9 2-2 16, Krug 0-2 0-0 0, Chapman 5-11 2-2 17, Earl 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 16-33 5-6 47
UNC-Charlotte: Gardiner 1-2 0-0 2, Price 3-6 2-4 8, Young 5-14 0-0 10, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, J.Thomas 1-4 0-0 3, M.Thomas 4-8 1-1 10, Guevara 3-6 2-2 10. Totals: 17-41 5-7 43
Halftime--Princeton 22, UNC-Charlotte 19. Fouled out--None. Total fouls--Princeton 9, UNC-Charlotte 13.
Florida State: Simmons 4-5 2-4 10, Hale 1-8 5-6 7, Mott 0-3 0-0 0, Arrington 2-5 5-6 9, Baker 8-14 11-18 29, Crawford 5-12 2-2 14, Anderson 4-8 3-3 11. Totals: 24-55 28-39 80.
Murray State: Spencer 8-19 3-4 19, Murray 3-12 1-1 7, Virgil 3-9 2-2 8, Towns 4-9 2-2 12, Reese 8-15 9-14 29, Floyd 0-1 1-2 1, Cunningham 0-1 0-0 0, Gay 0-2 0-0 0, Turner 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 26-70 18-25 76.
Halftime--Florida St. 31, Murray St. 25. Fouled out--Arrington, Towns. Total fouls--Florida St. 17, Murray St. 23.
Mississippi State: Roberts 4-5 7-8 15, Hamilton 2-4 2-2 7, Washington 2-6 6-8 10, Hyche 2-5 0-1 6, White 2-6 1-1 5, Marshall 0-5 2-2 2, Patterson 3-3 2-2 8, Boswell 1-2 0-0 3, Jackson 2-2 2-2 6. Totals: 18-38 22-26 62.
Southwestern Louisiana: Poole 5-10 0-0 12, Smith 3-4 1-2 7, Harmon 3-11 0-0 8, Patrick 0-3 2-2 2, Jones 5-12 2-3 12, Thomas 2-6 0-1 4, Whiting 4-8 5-6 13. Totals: 22-54 10-14 58.
Halftime--Mississippi St. 38, Southwestern Louisiana 37. Fouled out--Smith. Total fouls--Mississippi St. 15, Southwestern Louisiana 20.
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