Rainbows add to Vandals' troubles

UH surges in the second half to hand Idaho another loss

MOSCOW, Idaho » The Hawaii men's basketball team had been struggling to win on the road, and their Idaho counterpart has toiled to win at any venue.

The Vandals' problems superseded Hawaii's last night, as the Rainbow Warriors used a blistering-hot second half to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit. Hawaii defeated Idaho 70-66 in a Western Athletic Conference matchup at 1,500-capacity Memorial Gym.

HAWAII - 70 IDAHO - 66 NEXT UP vs. SJSU on Saturday

The road win was Hawaii's second of the year and raised its record to 15-9 overall, 8-5 in WAC play. Idaho, which has lost 14 of its last 15, falls to 4-21 and 1-12.

The Rainbows cemented the victory when Ahmet Gueye holed a pair of free throws with 13.9 seconds remaining and his team clinging to a 67-66 advantage. Idaho had a chance to tie at the other end, but Brett Ledbetter's 3-point try with 5 seconds remaining was off the mark, and Hawaii's Matt Lojeski came down with the rebound.

Lojeski was quickly fouled, and he dropped in one of two free throws with 1.4 seconds left to finalize the score.

Gueye said he felt confident when he stepped to the line for his decisive foul shots.

"I was concentrating on knocking them down," Gueye said.

Hawaii could hardly miss in the second half. The Rainbows made good on 14 of their first 17 shots after the break, including all five of their 3-point tries. They wound up hitting 15 of 21 second-half attempts (71.4 percent) after going 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) in the first half.

Even so, Gueye, his coach and his teammates said the team's improved defensive play was the difference.

"In the second half we just picked it up on defense," said Julian Sensley, who finished with a team-high 19 points. "We just gave it 110 percent."

While Hawaii coach Riley Wallace was pleased with his team's stepped-up effort in the second half, he was perturbed that the 'Bows waited so long to pick up their intensity.

"I don't like it," Wallace said in regard to the team's sluggish start. "We're prepared. ... They know what to do. You just can't play that way; you have to respect all your opponents."

Idaho jumped out to a 19-10 lead following back-to-back 3-pointers from Ledbetter, then boosted its advantage to 31-17 on treys by Tanoris Shepard and Keoni Watson.

Hawaii responded with an 8-0 run that cut its deficit to 31-25 with 5:13 to play in the half, but the Rainbow Warriors only mustered two more points before the break, during which they trailed 37-27. The Vandals hit 13 of 19 shots to start the game, including five of seven from 3-point range, and their 37 points at halftime matched a season high. A week earlier, Idaho had scored just 14 first-half points en route to an 80-42 home loss to Utah State.

Watson nearly equaled that output on his own this time around, tallying 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field.

Hawaii came out firing in the second half, closing the gap to 41-37 with a 10-4 run that started with a Sensley 3-pointer and ended with Sensley's putback of a Gueye miss. Sensley buried another bomb a few minutes later to bring the Rainbows within three, and they went on to tie the score at 49-all on a three-point play by Deonte Tatum before surging ahead on an inside bucket from Chris Botez.

Hawaii continued pouring it on from there, and by the time Idaho scored again, the Rainbows had reeled off a 12-0 spurt to go ahead 56-49 with 10:45 left to play. They would stretch their lead to as many as 10 points before the Vandals recovered from their swoon to close within 64-62 following three straight baskets from Watson and a Ledbetter steal and layup that prompted Wallace to call a timeout with 5:16 remaining.

Neither team scored again until Sensley buried a 3-pointer with 2:55 to go, and after four straight Idaho points, Gueye headed to the line for his final free throws.

"When they got open looks they didn't miss," Idaho coach Leonard Perry said.

Sensley converted seven of 11 shots from the field, including five of seven from 3-point range, and Tatum matched his career high with 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Gueye contributed 15 points and eight rebounds, and Tatum doled out five assists.

Idaho was led by Watson, who tallied 22 points.

Tatum said the Rainbows were determined to win in order to keep their postseason hopes alive. Hawaii stands a good chance of picking up another victory Saturday at San Jose State (6-20, 2-10), then closes out the regular season with home games against New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech.

"We can't lose no more," Tatum said. "We're still fighting for our life; we can't afford to let anything go."

WAC standings

	WAC	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Nevada	10	3	.769	-	21	5
Louisiana Tech	9	4	.692	1	17	10
Utah State	8	4	.667	112	18	6
Hawaii	8	5	.615	2	15	9
New Mexico State	8	5	.615	2	13	12
Fresno State	6	6	.500	312	13	11
Boise State	5	8	.385	5	13	12
San Jose State	2	10	.167	712	6	20
Idaho	1	12	.077	9	4	21

Today

Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State

Utah State at Boise State

Fresno State at San Jose State

Hawaii 70, Idaho 66

RAINBOW WARRIORS (15-9, 8-5 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Gipson	1	5	0	0	30	2	0	2
Lojeski	3	7	1	2	34	6	5	9
Tatum	7	10	1	3	40	3	5	17
Sensley	7	11	0	0	40	4	0	19
Gueye	4	10	7	9	36	8	3	15
Wilder	0	1	0	0	6	0	1	0
Botez	4	4	0	0	14	4	1	8
TEAM						2
Totals	26	48	9	14	200	29	15	70

VANDALS (4-21, 1-12 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Watson	10	15	0	0	40	4	4	22
Shepard	5	13	0	0	40	1	4	12
Vrzina	3	9	0	0	29	5	2	6
Dubois	2	4	0	0	25	5	0	4
Kale	4	8	2	4	31	8	1	10
Ledbetter	4	8	0	0	25	2	0	10
Nwoke	0	4	2	2	10	2	1	2
TEAM						3
Totals	28	61	4	6	200	30	12	66

Key - fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.

Halftime - Idaho 37, Hawaii 27

3-point goals - Hawaii 9-14 (Sensley 5-7, Lojeski 2-3, Tatum 2-4), Idaho 6-19 (Watson 2-4, Ledbetter 2-5, Shepard 2-8, Vrzina 0-1, Dubois 0-1). Personal fouls - Hawaii 11, Idaho 14.

Steals - Hawaii 4 (Tatum 2, Gipson, Lojeski), Idaho 4 (Ledbetter 2, Shepard, Vrzina). Blocked shots - Hawaii 9 (Gueye 4, Botez 3, Lojeski, Sensley), Idaho 1 (Vrzina). Turnovers - Hawaii 12 (Gueye 5, Sensley 3, Lojeski 2, Gipson, Tatum), Idaho 6 (Shepard 3, Watson, Kale, Ledbetter). Officials - Gabutero, Scyphers, Littlewood. A - 1,166.