ASSOCIATED PRESS Nevada's Kevinn Pinkney blocked a shot by Hawaii's Matt Gibson during the first half of last night's game.

More road woes
for ’Bows

Hawaii loses for the second straight
time on the road, falling 58-55
at Nevada

RENO, Nev. » A Hawaii basketball team that has lived on the edge all season, stumbled for the second straight game on the road.

The Rainbow Warriors held Nevada without a field goal in the final 6:24 of last night's nationally televised Western Athletic Conference contest, but the Wolf Pack made 11 of 12 free throws down the stretch to pull out a 58-55 victory at the Lawlor Events Center.

The loss came three days after UH dropped a one-point decision against Fresno State and dropped the Rainbows to 8-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

"It's really tough," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "We gave a really, really good effort -- good enough to win most of the time. Down the stretch we just couldn't get our execution down when they really dig in defensively.

"I was proud of the way the guys bounced back after a tough loss at Fresno. We just fell short at the end."

The Rainbows' 8-0 start is now a just a pleasant memory as they return home today after dropping both ends of their first conference road trip of the season by a total of four points.

Six of their 10 games this season have been decided by four points or fewer.

"It's not like we went out and got smacked from the get-go," UH forward Julian Sensley said of the two road losses. "It hurts even more when you battle these out to the end and we lose over just one basket, or a free throw or a missed layup."

The win gave Nevada (9-3) its first 2-0 start in WAC play since joining the league in the 2000-01 season. It also kept UH winless in Reno in seven visits.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii guard Deonte Tatum lost the ball against Nevada defender Chad Bell last night.

The Wolf Pack controlled the backboards last night, outrebounding UH 50-26, and won despite committing 23 turnovers, 17 in the first half.

"They just completely outworked us on the boards," Wallace said.

"We weren't aggressive enough, we weren't playing physical," Sensley said. "I think we definitely could have done a better job boxing them out, but they just wanted it more."

Nevada forward Nick Fazekas posted game highs of 23 points and 17 rebounds. Kevinn Pinkney added 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Freshman guard Ramon Sessions had 14 points and scored Nevada's final six points from the free-throw line.

Nevada made 17 of 20 free throws in the second half and was 22-for-28 in the game.

UH went to the line just eight times and made five of those attempts.

Sophomore guard Matt Gibson started in place of a struggling Bobby Nash and led the Rainbows with 19 points and six assists. Sensley finished with 12 points.

The Rainbows swiped a season-high 13 steals before halftime.

UH led 28-23 at halftime and opened its biggest lead when Gibson hit the game's first 3-pointer 27 seconds into the second half.

But Nevada responded with an 8-0 run and tied the game at 31 on a putback by Fazekas.

The game was tied seven more times heading into the final 4 minutes.

Sensley gave UH a 53-50 lead with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:25 left. Nevada came back and took a 56-55 lead on two free throws by Sessions with 29.8 seconds left.

Hawaii had a chance to reclaim the lead, but Sensley's free-throw-line jumper was short and Sessions grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 6.1 seconds left. The freshman then hit two more free throws to put the Wolf Pack up three.

"That shot felt good when it left my hand, but I got poked in the eye when I shot it," Sensley said. "It felt good, it just came short because I couldn't see anything."

Deonte Tatum then worked the ball up court for UH, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.

Note: Hawaii is scheduled to arrive back on the island this afternoon and opens a three-game homestand Saturday against San Jose State at the Stan Sheriff Center. The 'Bows follow with games against Southern Methodist on Jan. 13 and Louisiana Tech on Jan. 15 before heading back on the road.

Nevada 58, Hawaii 55

Rainbow Warriors (8-2, 0-2 WAC)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Gibson	6	13	5	5	40	2	6	19
Tatum	4	11	0	1	34	3	3	8
Blackett	1	6	0	0	17	3	1	2
Sensley	5	12	0	2	37	3	1	12
Botez	3	6	0	0	24	7	2	6
Sottos	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0
Gipson	3	7	0	0	28	6	0	6
Zivanovic	0	0	0	0	6	1	0	0
Peciukas	1	4	0	0	7	0	2	2
Nash	0	1	0	0	6	0	0	0
Team						0
Totals	23	60	5	8	200	26	15	55
Wolf Pack (9-3, 2-0 WAc)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Charlo	2	7	4	4	32	5	3	9
Shiloh	0	4	1	2	29	1	1	1
Sessions	4	7	6	6	29	4	5	14
Pinkney	5	10	0	1	37	11	0	10
Fazekas	6	17	10	13	37	17	1	23
Taylor	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	0
Washington	0	6	1	2	29	9	1	1
Bell	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Team						3
Totals	17	52	22	28	200	50	11	58

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 28, Nevada 23
3-point goals--Hawaii 4-15 (Gibson 2-5, Sensley 2-5, Gipson 0-2, Peciukas 0-2, Tatum 0-1); Nevada 2-7 (Fazekas 1-3, Charlo 1-1, Shiloh 0-2, Taylor 0-1). Personal fouls--Hawaii 21, Nevada 13. Fouled out--Blackett.
Steals--Hawaii 15 (Blackett 3, Gibson 3, Tatum 3, Botez 2, Gipson 2, Peciukas, Sensley); Nevada 10 (Shiloh 4, Fazekas 2, Washington 2, Charlo, Sessions). Blocked shots--Hawaii 3 (Gipson 3); Nevada 8 (Pinkney 3, Fazekas 2, Washington 2, Charlo). Turnovers--Hawaii 16 (Gibson 5, Sensley 4, Gipson 2, Tatum 2, Botez, Peciukas, Zivanovic); Nevada 23 (Charlo 8, Sessions 5, Washington 5, Shiloh 4, Taylor). Officials--Gerry Pollard, Tom Harrington, Mike Giarratano. A--6,626.