Tuesday, January 19, 1999
Utes turn back UH
Hawaii hangs tough
By Pat Bigold
for a half before
falling again
Star-BulletinOnce again, the Hawaii men's basketball team tantalized the home crowd with hope for about 30 minutes.
But right on schedule, hope went south on the Rainbows (3-13 overall, 0-4 WAC) in the second half last night as they fell, 60-46, to Utah (13-4 overall, 3-0 WAC) before 4,860 fans and an ESPN TV crew at Stan Sheriff Center .
"They came out in a matchup zone and that was pretty effective," said Andre Miller, the Utes' do-it-all NBA prospect point guard. "But I guess we hit some shots and they came out of it and that opened up the court."
Despite standing just 6-foot-2, Miller was enormous on the floor. He finished with 17 points, grabbed 11 rebounds (eight defensively), had seven assists, six steals and blocked a shot.All in a night's work for the Utes' top scorer, considered one of the best college players in the country at his position.
Hawaii had the crowd roaring late in the first half with a 10-1 run that started with the Rainbows down, 22-10, and ended with them knocking on the door, 23-20.
Mike Robinson hit a 3-pointer to cap the run. But Miller quickly silenced the joint, exploding for seven points in the last 3:08 to give Utah a comfortable lead (30-22) at intermission.
With Marquette Alexander (16 points) scoring seven points in the first four minutes of the second half, Hawaii cut the lead to 37-34. But 6-7 junior forward Alex Jensen (17 points, nine rebounds) got a layup and was fouled by Alexander and the 6-11 sophomore center got a putback to jack the Utes' lead back to eight (42-34).
Hawaii point guard Johnny White hit a trey to knock it down to 42-37 but Jensen answered immediately with a 3-pointer of his own.
Robinson sank a 10-footer from the baseline with 9:10 left to make it 49-41, but a 3-pointer by 6-9 Utah freshman Phil Cullen put the Utes lead in double figures and kept it there.
"We just got outplayed by a better ballclub," said Robinson, who had 17 points and nine rebounds. "We worked hard but they worked harder."
Rainbows coach Riley Wallace said he was pleased with his team's effort against a clearly superior team. "They never quit," said Wallace. "I think they stayed in the ballgame mentally, for the most part. We just don't have enough offense."
Wallace also thought the initial matchup zone worked well.
"It slowed them a little but then they picked it apart on some wrinkles that we didn't have covered in our scouting," he said. "So then we got after them in the 'man' and I thought we responded."
Utah coach Rick Majerus told Wallace that if the Rainbows played as hard as they did last night, they could win the rest of their home games.
"They played terrific defense, they rebounded, they hit big shots," said Majerus.
But Wallace alluded to the shooting bug again.
"We're not good shooters and we're not good shooters wide open in practice," said Wallace. "We have guys who are better athletes but not good shooters."
Asked if he is disappointed that some of his players aren't shooting the ball more, Wallace said no.
"They know they're not really good shooters and they don't want to hurt the club," he said. "They would be better off to flow and go ahead and shoot one once in a while when they're wide open. Kind of like AC Carter. AC was not a good shooter but he'd hit big shots. But I don't want them just throwing the ball up there because the offense isn't working."
The Rainbows were without senior forward Erin Galloway, who was out with the flu.
Robinson left the arena trying to sound resolute.
"If we go against San Diego State with our heads up, looking for a win, we'll do a good job," h e said. "I think we are all on the same page now. At some point in a person's life you get sick of the same thing happening all the time. You're going to find a way to make something happen, make a difference."
Utah 60, Hawaii 46 Box Score
At Stan Sheriff Center
Utes (13-4 overall; 3-0 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Mottola 35 6 13 1 2 3 3 13 Miller 36 8 14 1 3 11 2 17 Killion 21 1 5 1 1 0 1 3 Jensen 38 5 8 6 8 9 2 17 Althoff 30 2 6 3 4 7 2 7 Sharp 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Harvey 25 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 Cullen 14 1 2 0 0 0 1 3 Team 6 Totals 200 23 50 12 19 37 13 60
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp M. Robinson 40 7 16 2 2 9 2 17 White 36 2 4 1 1 3 2 6 Cartwright 32 0 5 2 2 2 4 2 Czernin 31 1 3 1 2 7 3 3 Alexander 31 8 18 0 1 4 4 16 McIntyre 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lee 17 0 4 0 0 1 1 0 Moeller 9 0 1 2 2 0 2 2 Team 3 Totals 200 18 51 8 10 29 18 463-point goals--Utah 2-11 (Jensen 1-2, Cullen 1-2, Killion 0-1, Miller 0-1, Harvey 0-2, Mottola 0-3), UH 2-8 (White 1-1, M. Robinson 1-2, Lee 0-2, Cartwright 0-3).Assists--Utah 12 (Miller 7), UH 10 (White 4). Turnovers--Utah 11 (Miller 8), UH 14 (White 6). Steals--Utah 8 (Miller 6), UH 4 (M. Robinson 1, White 1, Cartwright 1, Lee 1). Blocked shots--Utah 1 (Miller 1), UH 4 (M. Robinson 2).
A--7,504. Officials: Stubing, Reischling, McCall.
