RAINBOW WARRIOR BASKETBALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
P.J. Owsley and Matt Lojeski of Hawaii fought with Jaycee Carroll of Utah State for a rebound during yesterday's game. CLICK FOR LARGE
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Aggies bounce 'Bows
Hawaii fails to cash in on Utah State's 25 turnovers in the low-scoring game
By Jeff Hunter
Special to the Star-Bulletin
LOGAN, Utah » Stew Morrill honored University of Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace by forgoing his usual shirt and tie for a green Hawaiian shirt and a blue sport coat last night.
Utah State's head coach also presented his longtime friend with an unknown gift prior to the start of Wallace's final game at the Spectrum, while Morrill's team soon heaped on some presents of its own in the form of a season-high 25 turnovers.
It still wasn't enough to get the Rainbows over the top, however, as the Aggies prevailed 58-50.
UTAH STATE58
HAWAII50
NEXT UP VS. LBSU ON SATURDAY
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"It was horrible," UH guard Riley Luettgerodt said. "They had 25 turnovers, and we still we couldn't win. That just says that we weren't executing.
"We just couldn't get over the hump. They were almost giving it to us with 25 turnovers. That's crazy in a low-scoring game like that."
The loss dropped Hawaii to 14-12 overall and 5-8 in the Western Athletic Conference heading into Saturday's nonconference game at Long Beach State. The Aggies, who have won 14 straight home games, improved to 19-7 and 8-4 prior to their ESPN Bracketbuster game at Oral Roberts on Saturday.
"We turned it over way too much; we had some crazy turnovers," Morrill said. "But it was a good win for us to just grind it out.
"It looked like a Big Ten win: physical and lots of fouls and lots of fouls not called. It was just a grind-it-out type of game, but we're happy to have it. I would rather win ugly (than lose) any day."
While Hawaii certainly benefited from USU's highest turnover total in three years, the Rainbows also gave up the ball 18 times, were outrebounded 42-27 and shot just 35.7 percent from the field, including a season-worst 2-for-18 from 3-point range.
"We played well, and we played hard," Wallace said of his team. "We just didn't shoot the ball or rebound."
Senior guard Matt Lojeski knocked down seven of 15 field-goal attempts to lead Hawaii with 16 points, while senior forward Ahmet Gueye totaled 15 points and eight rebounds. Luettgerodt added 11 points in just 21 minutes, but no other 'Bow scored more than four points.
Defensively, Hawaii gave itself a chance by holding the Aggies to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half and holding down junior guard Jaycee Carroll. The con
ference's leading scorer and the reigning WAC Player of the Week after scoring 44 and 28 points, respectively, in USU wins over New Mexico State and Idaho, Carroll finished 4-for-11 from the field and equaled his season low with 11 points.
The primary reason behind Carroll's quiet night was Lojeski, who also helped limit Carroll to just 13 points in UH's 69-61 win at the Stan Sheriff Center on Jan. 29.
"I usually do a good job on him," the 6-foot-6 Lojeski said of defending the 6-2 Carroll. "I think my length probably bothers him. And I just try and stay focused and make someone else beat us. And that's kind of what happened tonight."
The "someone else" for Utah State was forward Stephen DuCharme. After totaling just five points in the Aggies' two games last week, DuCharme went 6-for-10 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line on his way to a team-high 15 points. DuCharme also pulled down nine rebounds, as did Carroll and senior forward Chris Session.
"The DuCharme kid shouldn't have gotten what he got early, but our big guys got kind of hung up and gave him some easy looks at the basket," Wallace said. "He got more than he should have when we hold Carroll to 11. If you don't let him do his thing, and then Session (10 points), who is a pretty good player, also gets his."
DuCharme had just five points in Utah State's loss at Honolulu, but Rainbows guard Matt Gibson, who led Hawaii with 20 points Jan. 29, and Bobby Nash, who finished with 15 that night, had extremely tough outings in the rematch. Facing 7,810 hostile fans at the Spectrum, Gibson went just 1-for-8 for four points, while Nash went 0-for-4 and didn't score a point.
Wallace said he felt the Rainbows' demanding travel schedule (Hawaii left for Utah just a couple of hours after Monday night's tough 71-68 loss to New Mexico State) played a factor in Hawaii's poor shooting night.
"We did a lot of right things, but it's still a tough place to play," Wallace said of the Spectrum, where Morrill is 124-11 over nine seasons. "And when fatigue hits your shooters and you lose your legs, it's going to affect you. I thought these guys were a little better in altitude than teams I've had in the past -- and I still think they are -- but it seemed to affect us tonight. And maybe it's because it's late in the season, too, but they certainly looked leg weary out there on their shooting."
Hawaii owned a 12-10 advantage midway through the first half when Carroll hit the first of his two 3-pointers with 8:17 to go to give USU the lead for good. The Aggies put together a 16-6 run to go up by as many as eight points before intermission before a driving layup by Lojeski with 1.5 seconds left cut the deficit to 27-22 at halftime.
The Aggies racked up 15 turnovers in the first half, but they also shot 57.1 percent from the field and outboarded the Rainbows 20-7.
"We turned it over way too much, but we found a way to win with our defense and our rebounding," Morrill said. "That's gratifying, because this team has not done that very often. ... Hawaii is the best defensive team in the league, statistically. We knew that going in, and we said we were going to have to play good defense to have a chance to win because they make it hard for you to score. Holy smokes."
Utah State 58, Hawaii 50
RAINBOW WARRIORS (14-12, 5-8 WAC)
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Owsley |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
2 |
1 |
2
|
Gueye |
6 |
9 |
3 |
5 |
36 |
8 |
0 |
15
|
Gibson |
1 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
28 |
5 |
3 |
4
|
Lojeski |
7 |
15 |
1 |
2 |
35 |
3 |
4 |
16
|
Nash |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Waters |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
20 |
3 |
1 |
2
|
Luettgerodt |
5 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
21 |
2 |
1 |
11
|
Verwers |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
17 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
Follmer |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
Totals |
20 |
56 |
8 |
14 |
200 |
27 |
11 |
50
|
AGGIES (19-7, 8-4 WAC)
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Session |
3 |
7 |
4 |
5 |
26 |
9 |
1 |
10
|
DuCharme |
6 |
10 |
3 |
3 |
32 |
9 |
1 |
15
|
Clark |
2 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
33 |
1 |
5 |
6
|
Carroll |
4 |
11 |
1 |
2 |
40 |
9 |
1 |
11
|
Peterson |
2 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
31 |
4 |
4 |
5
|
Hammer |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Vaitiekus |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
0 |
2
|
Spicer |
2 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
14 |
3 |
1 |
7
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
Totals |
21 |
48 |
13 |
16 |
200 |
42 |
13 |
58
|
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 -- Utah St. 27, Hawaii 22
3-point goals -- Hawaii 2-18 (Luettgerodt 1-3, Lojeski 1-4, Waters 0-2, Nash 0-4, Gibson 0-5), Utah St. 3-12 (Carroll 2-5, Peterson 1-3, Spicer 0-1, DuCharme 0-1, Hammer 0-2). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 18, Utah St. 13.
Steals -- Hawaii 12 (Gibson 3, Lojeski 3, Owsley, Gueye, Nash, Waters, Luettgerodt, Verwers), Utah St. 10 (Carroll 3, Peterson 3, Session 2, Clark 2). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 3 (Gueye 2, Luettgerodt), Utah St. 2 (Session, Hammer). Turnovers -- Hawaii 18 (Lojeski 5, Gueye 3, Gibson 3, Luettgerodt 3, Nash 2, Verwers, Follmer), Utah St. 25 (DuCharme 5, Session 4, Clark 4, Carroll 4, Spicer 3, Peterson 2, Hammer, Vaitiekus, TEAM).
Officials -- Randy McCall, Rick Hartzell, Duane Allen. A-- 7,810.
WAC standings
|
WAC |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L
|
Nevada |
11 |
1 |
.917 |
-- |
23 |
2
|
New Mexico State |
9 |
3 |
.750 |
2 |
18 |
6
|
Utah State |
8 |
4 |
.666 |
3 |
19 |
7
|
Boise State |
7 |
5 |
.583 |
4 |
13 |
10
|
Fresno State |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
5 |
17 |
8
|
Louisiana Tech |
6 |
7 |
.461 |
5 1/2 |
8 |
17
|
Hawaii |
5 |
8 |
.385 |
6 1/2 |
14 |
12
|
San Jose State |
3 |
10 |
.231 |
8 1/2 |
4 |
21
|
Idaho |
1 |
12 |
.077 |
10 1/2 |
3 |
22
|
Yesterday
Utah State 58, Hawaii 50
Nevada 68, San Jose State 60
Louisiana Tech 68, Idaho 59
Tomorrow
Albany at Boise State
Saturday
Hawaii at Long Beach State
Northern Iowa at Nevada
San Jose State at Northern Arizona
Utah State at Oral Roberts
Louisiana Tech at SE Missouri State
Sam Houston State at Fresno State
UC Riverside at Idaho
Ohio at New Mexico State