RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Julian Sensley put up a shot in front of E.J. Rowland, left, and Daniel Kickert.

Hawaii 5-0 after win

The Rainbow Warriors roll up
their highest point total of
the season in beating
Saint Mary's 84-77

In the season of giving, the Hawaii basketball team's generosity carried the Rainbow Warriors to an 84-77 victory over Saint Mary's (Calif.) last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A "White Out" night crowd of 5,787 watched the Rainbows dish out a season-high 21 assists in posting their highest point total of the season. UH improved to 5-0 for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

"That's the stat I like to look at, the 21 assists to just six for the other team," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "It's fun to coach when they do that."

Hawaii nearly gave the game away as well, as Saint Mary's cut a 12-point Hawaii lead to five in a minute's span. But UH, which won despite going 0-for-4 beyond the 3-point line, made enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the Gaels.

UH forward Julian Sensley led four UH players in double figures with 23 points. Jeff Blackett scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, while guard Bobby Nash scored all of his 10 points in the first half.

Guard Matt Gibson finished with 13 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field for Hawaii, which shot 62.5 percent as a team.

"We had a good week of practice executing our stuff in the offense. Coach was really stressing that," said Sensley, who made 10 of 15 shots from the field.

"We knew they were going to be aggressive and get into us, and we knew a lot of slips and backdoors would be there. It was just good ball movement and finding the slips."

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM UH's Chris Botez tried to put up a shot against Frederic Adjiwanou, left, and Daniel Kickert.

Saint Mary's, which will cover 16,527 miles before opening its West Coast Conference schedule, dropped to 6-4 and continues its road trip at San Diego State on Tuesday.

Saint Mary's forward Daniel Kickert led the Gaels with 22 points and eight rebounds. Brett Collins scored 15 and E.J. Rowland posted all of his 13 points in the second half.

"Hawaii was very efficient," Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. "They're a very good passing team. ... They cut through us."

Sensley and Kickert handled most of the scoring duties in the first half. At one stretch, Sensley scored 11 straight points for Hawaii, the most spectacular two coming on an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Deonte Tatum.

Kickert made his first four shots and had 10 points at the 8:26 mark.

After Saint Mary's went on an 8-0 run to take a 27-24 lead, UH closed the half with a 14-2 outburst and led 38-29 at halftime.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Deonte Tatum drove against Saint Mary's guard Frederic Adjiwanou in the first half of last night's game at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbows held the Gaels without a field goal for the final 6:40 of the half. Nash accounted for six points in the UH run and his layup on a drive along the baseline with 5 seconds left sent UH into the locker room with the lead and momentum.

Blackett joined in the scoring spree early in the second half, hitting for 10 points in the first 7 minutes.

Tatum (8 points, 3 assists) extended the UH lead to 56-41 on a layup off a lob from Sensley.

Saint Mary's closed to within 10 with 4:49 left when Kickert converted a three-point play to make the score 69-59 after Jonathan Sanders blocked a dunk attempt by Blackett.

Blackett went to the floor on the play and suffered a concussion. He left the game but returned in the final minute.

The Gaels then made things interesting with a last-minute barrage.

A 3-pointer by Collins brought the Gaels to within nine at 75-66 with a minute left. After another 3 by Jason Walberg, the Gaels stole the inbounds pass and Paul Marigney hit a jumper to cut the UH lead to 76-71.

But Saint Mary's would get no closer.

"We're taking them any way we can get them," Tatum said.

Hawaii 84, Saint Mary's 77

Gaels (6-4)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Rowland	3	10	7	9	28	4	2	13
Kickert	9	15	4	6	34	8	1	22
Walberg	2	6	0	0	24	1	0	5
Sanders	1	2	1	2	30	5	2	3
Sholberg	1	4	0	0	11	1	0	2
Bond	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Waddy	0	0	0	0	0+	0	0	0
Marigney	3	6	0	0	16	2	1	6
Collins	6	10	1	4	22	1	0	15
Adjiwanou	3	12	4	4	31	7	0	11
Team						4
Totals	28	65	17	25	200	33	6	77
Rainbow Warriors (5-0)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Tatum	4	5	0	0	34	4	3	8
Nash	5	8	0	0	21	2	1	10
Blackett	8	15	2	4	35	9	4	18
Sensley	10	15	3	6	40	2	4	23
Botez	1	3	0	2	21	7	4	2
Gibson	4	4	5	6	13	1	0	13
Gipson	3	4	3	4	20	5	4	9
Groce	0	0	0	0	12	0	1	0
Zivanovic	0	2	0	0	4	1	0	0
Peciukas	0	0	1	2	0+	0	0	1
Team						3
Totals	35	56	14	24	200	34	21	84

Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime--Hawaii 38, St. Mary's 29
3-point goals--St. Mary's 4-15 (Collins 2-3, Walberg 1-4, Adjiwanou 1-1, Marigney 0-3, Kickert 0-2, Rowland 0-1, Sholberg 0-1); Hawaii 0-4 (Nash 0-2, Sensley 0-2). Personal fouls--St. Mary's 22, Hawaii 23. Fouled out--Marigney, Gipson.
Steals--St. Mary's 7 (Rowland 2, Collins 2, Adjiwanou, Marigney, Walberg); Hawaii 5 (Botez, Gibson, Nash, Sensley, Tatum). Blocked shots--St. Mary's 3 (Adjiwanou, Kickert, Sanders); Hawaii 4 (Botez 2, Gipson 2). Turnovers--St. Mary's 15 (Sanders 4, Collins 3, Rowland 2, Kickert 2, Adjiwanou, Marigney, Walberg, Team); Hawaii 17 (Sensley 5, Tatum 4, Botez 3, Nash 2, Gibson, Gipson, Groce); Officials--Bran Barr, Bobby McRoy, Craig Peterson. A--7,518.