Saturday, November 20, 1999
Puida gets
’Bows off to
rolling start
The UH basketball team has
little trouble in its season-
opening gameNo regional TV for 'Bows
By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinIt's not often you'll hear Riley Wallace say this about anybody.
But he said it about Nerijus Puida as the Rainbows launched their season with an 84-68 whipping of Tennessee-Martin in the opener of the Pepsi One/Nextel Challenge last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"Perfect game," said Wallace, the 13th-year head coach who recorded his 198th career win against 199 losses.
Hawaii will play Bowling Green in the 8 p.m. championship game of the tournament tomorrow at the Stan Sheriff Center. Tennessee-Martin takes on Jackson State in the 6 p.m. consolation game.
Bowling Green beat Jackson State last night, 60-43.
Puida, who had 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field, was one of four Hawaii players in double digits.
But the 6-foot-4 small forward ran the break with creativity and precision Rainbow fans haven't seen in a long while. He had seven assists and committed no turnovers in 22 minutes.
He also grbbed five rebounds and initiated a beautiful fast break with a steal at midcourt, a pass to Johnny White -- who dished back to Puida -- followed by a sweet no-look-pass to Marquette Alexander.
"You don't see him doing many things wrong the whole night," said Wallace.
"Perfect shooting, seven assists, he gets some rebounds and goes in and gets a tip-in, and his defense is adequate. He pushes the ball down the floor and never opens his mouth. He's a very, very alert kid."
Wallace didn't have to pause to think of a comparison.
"Alika (Smith) was that way," he said. "He knew what was going on all over the floor and had a feel for where everybody was. And that's the way Nerijus is. He sees everybody and he'll make that extra pass. He doesn't care if he scores."
Puida said he simply enjoys running the break.
"I like to push the ball on the fast break, and I think it's fun for fans," he said.
"But we have a long way to go though, and we must improve the defense."
Puida was referring to the letup in intensity in the second half that allowed Tennessee-Martin to climb from a deficit of 32 points (63-31) with 13:24 left to within 14 with 44 seconds left.
Hawaii, which had 11 turnovers in the first half, committed 18 in the second half.
"I'd say we were 65 percent tonight because we had way too many turnovers," said team captain Alexander, who led all scorers with 17 points.
Point guard White, who had 15 points, said he thought Hawaii executed well for the first 10-and-a-half minutes as the Rainbows raced out to a 29-8 lead.
"Hustle and determination won the game for us tonight," said White. "We just have to lower that turnover ratio. But we're trying to run so much, and that's where a lot of the turnovers come from."
Bernard McIntosh shot 6-for-7 and wound up with 13 points.
PEPSI ONE/NEXTEL CHALLENGE
Hawaii 84, Tennessee-Martin 68
Skyhawks
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Betts 1 7 0 0 23 0 2 2 Benton 6 13 2 10 27 8 0 14 Sensabaugh 0 4 0 0 12 0 2 0 Williamson 3 6 3 7 17 4 0 9 Webb 3 15 1 1 31 7 0 7 Roos 2 3 2 2 20 0 2 6 Jordan 1 2 1 2 14 1 0 3 Bledsoe 4 9 0 0 18 3 0 11 Egbe 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Prescott 6 13 4 5 34 5 1 16 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 26 72 13 27 200 32 7 68Rainbows
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 3 6 0 0 19 5 2 6 White 5 8 4 6 27 2 3 15 Puida 5 5 0 0 22 5 7 11 Ostler 3 4 0 1 11 7 0 6 Alexander 7 10 3 3 29 4 4 17 McIntyre 1 3 0 0 15 2 1 3 McIntosh 6 7 1 2 21 7 3 13 Takaki 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 English 0 0 2 2 2 1 1 2 Hall 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Robinson 2 6 5 6 17 2 1 9 O'Connor 0 3 0 0 16 3 1 0 Fields 1 3 0 0 18 3 2 2 Holliday 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 33 55 15 20 200 44 25 843-point goals--T-M 3-11 (Bledsoe 3-6, Prescott 0-1, Sensabaugh 0-1, Betts 0-3); UH 3-13 (Puida 1-1, White 1-2, McIntyre 1-3, O'Connor 0-1, Robinson 0-3, Savovic 0-3). Personal fouls--T-M 19, UH 25. Fouled out--Ostler, McIntosh. Steals--T-M 11 (Betts 3, Roos 3), UH 5 (Robinson 3). Blocked shots--T-M 2 (Webb 1, Prescott 1), UH 8 (McIntosh 3). Turnovers--T-M 18, UH 29. Officials--Gaspar Guercio, Vince Schlueter, Donovan Lewis. A-6,941.
Falcons 60, Tigers 43
JACKSON STATE: Marks 5-11 5-8 15, Burns 2-6 2-4 6, Bradley 3-12 0-0 6, Walker 0-5 3-4 3, Jones 1-9 2-2 4, Rod Dixon 0-1 0-0 0, Myers 0-0 0-0 0, Roy Dixon 2-10 0-0 5, Fletcher 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 1-1 2-3 4, Nichols 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 14-56 14-21 43.BOWLING GREEN: Jackson 3-5 0-0 6, McLeod 4-10 6-9 15, Esterkamp 3-9 3-4 10, Stacey 6-9 6-7 18, Klassen 1-7 0-0 2, Bunn 0-1 0-0 0, Matela 3-6 3-4 9, Doliboa 0-1 0-0 0, Black 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 20-48 18-24 60.
Halftime-Bowling Green 35, Jackson State 18.
3-point goals-JS. 1-11 (Roy Dixon 1-8, Marks 0-1, Burns 0-1, Walker 0-1); BG 2-9 (Esterkamp 1-3, McLeod 1-4, Jackson 0-1, Bunn 0-1). Fouled out-Jackson. Rebounds-JS 33 (Burns 9, Bradley 9); BG 41 (Matela 12). Assists-JS 3, BG 11 (Esterkamp 6). Total fouls-JS 21, BG 22.
No regional TV for
Hawaii basketballHawaii is only WAC program
By Pat Bigold
without a Fox regional telecast
Star-BulletinThe Hawaii men's basketball program is the only Western Athletic Conference program not scheduled for a Fox regional telecast this coming season. With no national or regional coverage for the Rainbow Classic (Dec. 27-30) either, it now appears that the Rainbow men will get only local TV exposure for 1999-2000. "It's going to kill us in recruiting," said an unhappy Wallace last night.
Wallace, who is in his 13th year as head coach, said he has not been shut out of both national and regional TV coverage since back in the 1980s.
"There was a Hawaii game in the original schedule," said WAC commissioner Karl Benson last night at the Pepsi One/Nextel Challenge. "It was the game at Fresno State on March 4. But Fox wanted to move the game to Sunday and the Fresno State arena wasn't available. So our intention was not to slight Hawaii, or to eliminate Hawaii from TV exposure."
Fox, which replaced ESPN as the Western Athletic Conference sports network, will carry nine regional WAC men's basketball games this season.
Rice, SMU and TCU will each get four Fox regional appearances while four of the other five WAC members will get at least one appearance.
"I just hope this team performs well and really gets good so they'll (Fox) be the ones to lose out by not getting to see us play," said Wallace.
Fox announced that the Wahine basketball team will get two regional appearances (Jan. 13 at SMU and Feb. 27 at Rice).
Benson said he is still trying to get a Fox regional date for Hawaii.
"It all goes through Dallas now," said Wallace.
Fresno State, picked to win the WAC, will get one of three national Fox exposures in a game against TCU. Rice and SMU will have another. The WAC championship game will be the third national telecast.
Fresno State will also have a regional appearance.
Earlier, the Rainbow Classic lost ESPN, which had done the previous three tournaments. Then negotiations with Fox to pick it up fell through.
Wallace did gain some free international exposure for the basketball program when he did a guest appearance on Baywatch Hawaii. In the episode, which revolves around the team and was shot in the Stan Sheriff Center, his players can be seen practicing with Wallace in the foreground delivering lines. But that episode won't help Wallace with recruitng this season because it won't be aired until May 2000, according to the show's executive producer, Greg Bonnan.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
