RAINBOW WARRIOR BASKETBALL
Small 'Bows play big
Gibson comes off the bench to spark Hawaii past Utah State 69-61
Hawaii's so-called "small" lineup lifted the Rainbow Warriors to a big win last night.
Down by seven and with two big men on the bench in foul trouble about midway through the second half, the Rainbows got a spark from guard Matt Gibson and rallied to a 69-61 victory over Utah State before a crowd of 3,746 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Gibson lost his starting spot for missing practice last Saturday. He didn't miss much in the second half last night, sparking the Rainbows with 18 of his game-high 20 points after the break.
"With our offense you just let it come, you take the shots that you get," Gibson said.
"Whatever role I'm given, I'm going to play hard and do whatever I can to help this team win."
The Rainbows completed a sweep of their homestand to improve to 12-9 overall and 3-5 in the Western Athletic Conference. They'll begin the second half of the league schedule at Fresno State on Thursday in seventh place.
Utah State dropped to 15-7 overall and fell into a three-way tie for fourth place at 4-4.
Hawaii forward Ahmet Gueye went to the bench with four fouls and Stephen Verwers picked up his fifth shortly thereafter with 11:27 left in the game.
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace then inserted Riley Luettgerodt at small forward and slid Bobby Nash to power forward. And with Utah State leading 45-38, the lineup responded with a decisive 13-2 run, with Gibson
contributing 11. Hawaii shot 56 percent from the field in the second half while committing only four turnovers.
"I was worried," Wallace said. "The good thing is we have some experience playing small. We won some games early with the smaller lineup."
Nash finished with 15 points and guard Matt Lojeski added 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Forward P.J. Owsley managed nine points and eight rebounds.
Lojeski also tracked Utah State guard Jaycee Carroll, the WAC's leading scorer entering the game, for most of the night on defense and helped limit him to 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field.
"Matt Lojeski did a great job," Gibson said. "He wasn't feeling good, but he put that behind him and chased that guy everywhere and created havoc. ... Matt did his job tonight and that's a big reason why we won."
Chaz Spicer led Utah State with 18 points, but Hawaii held the Aggies to 35.3 percent shooting as a team.
"They were the aggressors and responded when they needed to and we didn't," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said.
The defenses controlled the first half as a duel between two of the WAC's top scoring guards fizzled early and the teams went into halftime tied at 25.
Carroll (20.8 points per game going into the game) and Lojeski (17.2) had few opportunities to score in the first half, both going 2-for-5 from the field.
Instead, Nash (11 points) and Spicer (12) were the main offensive producers before the break.
Hawaii held Utah State without a field goal for about a span of 10:30, limiting the Aggies to five free throws in that stretch. Carroll broke the string by getting a running banker to drop at the 4:43 mark for his first bucket of the night.
Hawaii scored the opening six points of the second half, five coming from Waters, only to see Utah State knot the score again on 3-pointers by Nick Hammer and Carroll.
With the Rainbows up 36-34, Utah State went on an 11-2 run and led 45-38 when Durrall Peterson drained two free throws.
The Rainbows rallied after the lineup change and reclaimed the lead when Gibson tracked down his own missed shot, stepped behind the 3-point line and hit a trey to put UH up 47-45 with 8:14 left.
Hawaii opened up a 58-50 cushion when Lojeski picked up a loose ball and calmly knocked down a 3-pointer and P.J. Owsley converted a pass from Gibson into a short shot off the glass.
The final blow came with 2:26 left when Gibson poked away a long rebound and saved the ball to Nash, who flipped it back to Gibson for a 3-pointer from the right corner to give Hawaii a 63-51 advantage.
'Bows to Long Beach:
Hawaii wasn't included in ESPN's BracketBusters package announced yesterday. The Rainbows will play at Long Beach State of the Big West Conference on Feb. 17.
Hawaii 69, Utah State 61
AGGIES (15-7, 4-5 WAC)
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Peterson |
1 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
29 |
3 |
3 |
6
|
Spicer |
5 |
11 |
5 |
7 |
34 |
9 |
0 |
18
|
DuCharme |
2 |
7 |
1 |
2 |
24 |
8 |
1 |
5
|
Clark |
2 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
28 |
3 |
2 |
5
|
Carroll |
5 |
13 |
2 |
3 |
37 |
3 |
3 |
13
|
Hammer |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
27 |
2 |
0 |
5
|
Session |
3 |
4 |
7 |
9 |
21 |
4 |
1 |
9
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Totals |
18 |
51 |
18 |
25 |
200 |
35 |
10 |
69
|
RAINBOW WARRIORS (12-9, 3-5 WAC)
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Owsley |
3 |
8 |
3 |
5 |
34 |
8 |
3 |
9
|
Nash |
7 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
37 |
4 |
2 |
15
|
Gueye |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
24 |
7 |
2 |
5
|
Waters |
2 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
18 |
2 |
3 |
5
|
Lojeski |
4 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
38 |
7 |
7 |
11
|
Gibson |
6 |
11 |
6 |
8 |
23 |
3 |
1 |
20
|
Luettgerodt |
1 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
16 |
1 |
1 |
4
|
Verwers |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Follmer |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0+ |
0 |
0 |
0
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
Totals |
25 |
53 |
13 |
19 |
200 |
34 |
19 |
61
|
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 -- Hawaii 25, Utah State 25.
3-point goals -- Utah St. 7-17 (Spicer 3-4, Clark 1-2, Hammer 1-2, Carroll 1-4, Peterson 1-5), Hawaii 6-20 (Lojeski 3-6, Gibson 2-5, Nash 1-4, Waters 0-2, Luettgerodt 0-3). Personal fouls -- Utah St. 18, Hawaii 20. Fouled out -- Carroll, Peterson, Verwers.
Steals -- Utah St. 3 (Hammer, Peterson, Session), Hawaii 6 (Luettgerodt 2, Nash 2, Gueye, Waters). Blocked shots -- Utah St. 1 (Hammer), Hawaii 10 (Gueye 5, Owsley 3, Lojeski, Luettgerodt). Turnovers -- Utah St. 14 (Carroll 4, Clark 3, Peterson 3, Spicer 2, DuCharme, Session), Hawaii 13 (Gibson 3, Gueye 3, Lojeski 2, Nash 2, Luettgerodt, Owsley, team). Officials -- David Hall, Jim Stupin, Mike Littlewood. A -- 3,746.