Monday, November 8, 1999
Rainbows in a rout
Travel-weary Northwest All-Stars
By Pat Bigold
put up little resistance as Hawaii
racks up offensive numbers not
seen here since 1998
Star-BulletinThe Hawaii men's basketball team delighted a crowd of 3,383 at Stan Sheriff Center last night with an offensive display unlike anything they saw last season.
It was the Rainbows' first exhibition game of the season, and they played a traveling team called the Northwest All-Stars, which got off the plane only four hours before game time.
But the 89-67 win was enough to send expectations soaring.
The Rainbows, coming off a 6-20 1998-99 season, had five players in double figures.
Last night's point total (89), field goals made (36), floor shooting percentage (.581), and rebounds (49) all topped last season's highs.
Sophomore guard Predrag Savovic and junior small forward Lane O'Connor combined for 22 points to help Hawaii gain an overwhelming 44-18 halftime advantage. Each shot 5-for-5 from the floor in the opening half.
"Everyone looked for the extra pass," Savovic said.
"That Yugoslavian kid (Savovic), even though he didn't get a lot of points, we always had to be conscious of where he was because we knew he could shoot," said Northwest All-Stars coach John Hines.
"When he had any daylight, we had to be out there on him. He opened up everything for the inside guys."
O'Connor, who finished with a game-high 17 points (7- for-8 from the field) and no turnovers in 27 minutes of floor time, was the most pleasant surprise of the game for head coach Riley Wallace."He played great," said Wallace. "I was very happy with that spot. He did a lot of good things."
Said O'Connor of his debut performance in a Rainbows uniform, "My confidence is higher now, but this was just one game."
O'Connor was a 51 percent shooter from 3-point range at Santa Rosa Junior College last season. Last night he made two of three trey attempts against the man-to-man coverage that the all-stars used.
With injured Nerijus Puida due back next Sunday for an exhibition against the California West All-Stars, Wallace might find the "3" is his deepest position.
That's because when he inserted senior Geremy Robinson for 12 minutes at that position in the second half, he scored 15 points (5-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 at the line) with only one turnover.
"In a late game situation like that he's going to break a defense down and just go," said Wallace.
Troy Ostler, a 6-foot-9 junior recruit from Utah, scored six of Hawaii's first 10 points and assisted on another basket in a 10-3 run that sent the green and white off and running.
Ostler finished with 14 poin ts (7-for-8 from the field) and led the team with 15 rebounds. Ostler also blocked four shots and made one steal.
Junior forward Bernard McIntosh and senior center Marquette Alexander combined for another 15 rebounds.
"We weren't trying to do too much, just trying to please Coach Wallace in running the offense," said senior returning point guard Johnny White, who had seven points and nine assists.
"In the first 10 minutes, we did everything, mixed it up, ran the specials, ran the backdoor cuts."
Hawaii used five different offenses (G- game, zone, 1-4, triple and motion) in the exhibition and White said he thought the G-game and 1-4 worked best.
"But it's still a learning process for everybody because we have only four returning guys," he said.
Wallace used White for 36 minutes and he fouled out with 1:49 left. He said the chances are that White, who averaged 37 minutes last season, might have to play as much this season.
Canadian Freshman Carl English, who was recruited to spell White, has been hampered by stretched ligaments in his ankle and won't be able to help as much as planned.
Wallace experimented by having him play seven minutes late in the second half with White moving to the off-guard spot. English had two assists and two rebounds but he also had three turnovers and three fouls.
"I had a couple of nice passes but I'm not the same player I could be," he said.
Also playing some time at point guard was sophomore Mike McIntyre (three assists, one point).
"I think we did real great," said Alexander who had 14 points. "Regardless of whether they were just off the plane or had been here a whole week. It doesn't really matter."
But Alexander admitted the 24 turnovers Hawaii committed were not encouraging.
"We have to work on that," he said.
"We have to take better care of the ball," said Wallace.
"For the first 15 minutes of the first half, we were executing and playing good defense," he said. "Then conditioning comes in and that's the thing you test this time of year. Our timing was way off when they started pressuring in the second half. We got a lit tle tired and there was no defense."
Besides Puida, Hawaii was also missing Canadian freshman forward Phil Martin who remains ineligible on a technicality.
Northwest All-Stars Hawaii 89, Northwest
All-Stars 67
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Lang 8 19 2 5 34 10 4 19 Hardy 0 4 0 0 16 5 1 0 Mann 2 10 2 3 22 1 0 6 Thomas 0 3 0 0 20 0 1 0 Houston 4 6 4 10 14 3 1 12 Wright 3 10 2 3 34 3 0 9 Lewis 5 13 1 2 31 3 1 11 Walker 4 6 0 0 22 5 0 8 Birge 1 3 0 2 7 2 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 Totals 27 74 11 25 200 37 8 67Rainbows
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 5 10 0 0 29 2 1 11 McIntyre 0 2 1 2 7 0 3 1 McIntosh 3 5 1 4 27 8 1 7 Takaki 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 White 3 5 1 2 36 5 9 7 English 0 0 1 2 7 2 2 1 Ostler 7 8 0 0 22 15 1 14 Hall 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Robinson 5 8 5 6 12 3 0 15 O’Connor 7 8 1 3 27 4 0 17 Fields 0 1 2 2 9 1 0 2 Alexander 6 14 2 4 22 7 1 14 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 36 62 14 25 200 49 18 89Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.3-point goals--NAS (2-20): Lang 1-5, Wright 1-6, Hardy 0-4, Mann 0-5); UH (3-8): O'Connor 2-3, Savovic 1-2, Robinson 0-1, McIntyre 0-2). Personal fouls--NAS 19, UH 22. Fouled out--White. Steals--NAS 13 (Lang 7), UH 7 (McIntosh 2, White 2). Blocked shots--NAS 1 (Hardy), UH 5 (Ostler 4). Turnovers--NAS 16, UH 24. Officials--Craig Peterson, Brian Yamasaki, Thomas Yoshida.
