Friday, January 8, 1999
Another collapse
for ’Bows
The UH men once again
By Pat Bigold
fold in the second half
Star-BulletinIt's become the defining characteristic of the 1998-99 University of Hawaii men's basketball team .
Another second half collapse, this time at 4,000-foot altitude in the high desert of El Paso, Texas, spoiled the Rainbows' season- opener in the Pacific Division of the Western Athletic Conference.
Texas-El Paso rallied from a first-half deficit to defeat Hawaii, 66-53, at the Don Haskins Center. The Miners raised their record to 9-5.
Sharif Fajardo led the Miners with 16 points.
Tomorrow night, the Rainbows (3-10) play at No. 15 New Mexico (13-2). The Lobos defeated San Diego State, 90-60, last night in Albuquerque.
Hawaii had a 29-27 lead at halftime and raised that to 32-27 when Casey Cartwright hit a 3-pointer to open the second half.
But two quick turnovers and a 6-0 Miners' run wiped out Hawaii's advantage. Mike Robinson, who led Hawaii from his small forward position with 13 points, gave the Rainbows their final lead (35-33) when he scored and was fouled by UTEP point guard Winford McCrae. But a 9-0 UTEP run and foul trouble for Robinson, Cartwright, Philipp Czernin and Marquette Alexander spelled doom for Hawaii.
The Rainbows made 20 of 46 shots from the floor to 17 of 44 for the Miners. But UTEP was 28 of 39 from the foul line while Hawaii was 10 of 17.
''They shot 31 free throws the second half while we shot 11," said UH coach Riley Wallace.
Wallace said fatigue hit the Rainbows and they simply ''quit on the defensive end."
Wallace said the performance of Erin Galloway, who was reinserted into the Hawaii starting lineup, disappointed him the most.
''I thought he would be fired up to be a starter again, but he was just dead the first five minutes,'' said Wallace. ''He gave some easy layups where he didn't get down the floor. He didn't play intense and missed another dunk and missed another layup. He just didn't answer the call."
Czernin started the second half in place of Galloway, who had three fouls by that time.
Wallace said that Casey Cartwright was another disappointment. ''He played 22 minutes and shot 2-for-5 , and not a rebound," he said.
As for the team's leading scorer, Mike Robinson, who was playing small forward for the first time to give Hawaii more offensive spark, Wallace said the experiment didn't work well.
''He got kind of fouled up and he was only 4-for-12," said Wallace.
Alexander, who was 6-for-10, got Wallace's vote of confidence. ''He played better than anybody else," he said.
Texas-El Paso 66, Hawaii 53
Rainbows (3-10 overall, 0-1 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp M. Robinson 31 4 12 2 3 7 4 10 Alexander 37 6 10 2 2 4 4 14 Galloway 12 0 2 0 1 3 4 0 White 36 2 5 0 0 2 1 5 Cartwright 22 2 5 3 4 0 5 9 McIntyre 6 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 Lee 11 1 2 0 0 2 1 2 Czernin 26 3 4 0 2 2 5 6 Silva 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 G. Robinson 10 2 4 1 3 1 1 5 Gillman 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moeller 7 0 0 2 2 2 0 2 Team 4 Totals 200 20 46 10 17 28 27 53
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Fajardo 21 5 11 6 8 4 1 16 Wolfram 23 4 7 5 6 5 3 13 Nelson 15 2 4 0 0 1 0 6 Smith 31 2 5 5 7 6 3 9 McRae 21 1 3 0 2 1 3 2 Vandivort 3 0 0 2 4 0 1 2 Luces 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Mullahon 24 0 5 4 4 4 3 4 Escobedo 21 3 5 6 7 2 2 14 Bomba 26 0 2 0 1 8 1 0 Gregory 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Mendoza 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Team 3 Totals 200 17 44 28 39 36 18 66Halftime score--Hawaii 29, UTEP 27.3-point goals--Hawaii 3-10 (Cartwright 2-4, White 1-3, McIntyre 0-1, Czernin 0-1, G. Robinson 0-1), UTEP 4-16 (Escobedo 2-3, Nelson 2-4, McRae 0-1, Mendoza 0-1, Smith 0-2, Mullahon 0-5).
Assists--Hawaii 12 (White 5), UTEP 9 (Smith 2). Turnovers--Hawaii 19 (White 5), UTEP 15 (Fajardo 4). Steals--Hawaii 9 (M. Robinson 3), UTEP 5 (Fajardo 2). Blocked shots--Hawaii 4 (Galloway 3), UTEP 3 (Bomba 3).
Technicals--Cartwright, Bomba.
A--6,275. Officials: Bosone, Staffen, Smith.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
