Thursday, December 9, 1999
’Bows no match
for USC
The host Trojans manhandle
By Pat Bigold
Hawaii's starters on the way to
an 85-56 lopsided victory
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii men's basketball team took it on the chin in its first road non-conference game in four years.
With USC's frontcourt manhandling the Rainbows' starters and the guards working 10 of the team's 14 steals, the Trojans clobbered Hawaii, 85-56, before 2,092 last night at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
USC improved to 4-4 while the Rainbows, who return home today, fell to 5-2.
They will resume play on Dec. 20 in the three-day Nike Festival against Florida-Atlantic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"It's the first time we had anybody play us that physical and tough," said Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace. "I knew they would be tough, but I didn't know they would be that good and would manhandle us like they did."
The Trojans have been known as a five-deep team this season with starters averaging 83 percent of total game time. Some opponents have exploited that.But against the Rainbows, USC starters played only 67 percent of the time as head coach Henry Bibby went to his bench early. Eight Trojans wound up with double digit minutes.
"It's a non-conference game and we tried to see where people fit, give people some confidence and motivate people," said Bibby, who gave 6-11 freshman center Konstantinos Charrissis his first start and used regular starter David Bluthenthal as a reserve.
"I'm trying to bring some guys along slowly," he added. "I'm looking to get them a few more minutes. We want to have them ready for Pac-10 play and win in the process."
With nine players averaging double digit time through the first six games, Wallace had hoped to outlast the Trojans, running the starters into foul trouble.
As it turned out, only one USC player (freshman backup guard Nate Hair who had five points in 10 minutes) fouled out. Starting guards Brandon Granville and Jeff Trepagnier, as well as Charissis, each had four fouls.
Trepagnier led USC in scoring with 20 points and had four steals.
Sam Clancy, a 6-7 sophomore forward, had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Rainbows, who had a season low nine turnovers in Sunday's Hawaii Invitational final win over Pacific at the Stan Sheriff Center, committed 28 against USC.
"It was a lack of concentration on our part," said Wallace.
Some of Hawaii's most reliable performers led the team in turnovers.
Marquette Alexander, who had his second double-double of the season (16 points, 10 rebounds), Nerijus Puida (who entered with an assist-turnover ratio of 36-11) and Bernard McIntosh (who was averaging only two turnovers a game) each committed five.
"We've always scored enough to win, but we just haven't been able to stop people," said Bibby, whose team has lost to nationally ranked North Carolina and Duke. "We tried to get pressure all over, take them out of their offense and get deflections."
Hawaii trailed from the start as 6-foot-7 budding NBA prospect Brian Scalabrine hit a 3-pointer and the Trojans ran it out to a 9-1 lead.
It was 16-7 when Granville, the NCAA's No. 3 assist man, had to sit with three fouls. Wallace then dropped man-to-man coverage into a 2-3 zone.
It was somewhat of a surprise because Wallace had said last weekend that the team was not ready to zone.
"Everybody who has played them recommended it," said Wallace. "It worked in the beginning but we didn't box out. We gave them second and third chances and we couldn't get any rebounds out of it."
Hawaii cut the lead to 18-12 on an Alexander basket that culminated a frenetic sequence of seven putback attempts. It was indicative of how difficult it was for Hawaii to work the offensive glass against USC. The Rainbows got only 13 offensive rebounds.
The Trojans rejected the Hawaii surge with a 17-6 run that put the game out of reach.
Hawaii fell behind, 42-22, at the half and never put together a serious threat in the second half.
USC 85, Hawaii 56
Rainbows (5-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Puida 1 1 2 3 33 5 3 4 Ostler 2 7 2 7 31 3 0 6 Alexander 5 12 6 7 34 10 3 16 Savovic 0 4 4 6 10 2 0 4 White 4 9 0 0 32 2 0 8 McIntyre 2 4 0 0 12 3 0 5 McIntosh 0 2 1 4 13 1 2 1 Robinson 5 9 1 3 27 7 1 12 O'Connor 0 2 0 0 6 1 0 0 Fields 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 19 50 16 30 200 37 9 56Trojans (4-4)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Scalabrine 6 12 4 4 32 5 3 19 Clancy 6 12 4 5 26 11 3 16 Charissis 2 5 0 2 23 6 1 4 Granville 3 8 2 2 21 1 3 9 Trepagnier 8 14 3 7 32 5 2 20 Hair 2 4 1 2 10 4 1 5 Thurston 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 Jones 0 3 3 4 22 4 4 3 Bluthenthal 4 8 0 2 26 6 2 9 Elmagbari 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 31 67 17 28 200 43 19 85Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.Halftime-USC 42, Hawaii 22.
3-point goals--UH 2-8 (McIntyre 1-2, Robinson 1-2, O'Connor 0-1, Savovic 0-3); USC 6-19 (Scalabrine 3-5, Trepagnier 1-2, Bluthenthal 1-4, Granville 1-6, Hair 0-1, Thurston 0-1). Personal fouls--UH 24, USC 22. Fouled out--Hair. Steals--UH 9 (Puida 3), USC 14 (Trepagnier 4). Blocked shots--UH 1 (Ostler 1), USC 2 (Scalabrine2). Turnovers--UH 28, USC 17. Officials--Tom Wood, Mike Reed, Ruben Ramos. A-2,092.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
