Wednesday, December 22, 1999
Puida has a
winning attitude
And that has helped
By Pat Bigold
the Rainbows on the court
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii men's basketball team now has one more victory than it had all of last season, and there are 18 games to go.
If you're trying to figure out why, you have to consider players with attitudes like Nerijus Puida.
"I couldn't get to sleep after Monday's game," said the 6-foot-5 Lithuanian following Hawaii's 72-58 rout of Western Illinois on the second night of the Nike Festival at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Puida said he tossed and turned about his below-average statistics in Hawaii's 87-60 win against Florida Atlantic on the first day of the round robin tournament.
He entered the week leading the Western Athletic Conference in assists and field goal percentage, but against the Owls, he scored only five points, committed as many turnovers, made three assists and only two rebounds.
It was killing him.
"He didn't sleep until 3 in the morning," said Puida's wife, Dainora, smiling, as she reviewed a stat sheet outside the Hawaii locker room.
It bothered Puida so much that he took it out on Western Illinois (4-8), scoring 14 points, grabbing seven rebounds, and making four steals, three assists and two blocks.
Western Illinois, playing one of the most physical styles Hawaii (7-2) has seen this season, trailed, 39-32, at the half and stayed within 11 points for 10 of the last 20 minutes. But an 11-2 run put the Rainbows up, 67-47, with 6:58 left and the Leathernecks never threatened after that.
It was Puida who started and ended that crucial run with steals he converted into baskets.
His desire to make amends for Monday seemed to go beyond the call of duty at times. When Leatherneck guard Bill Heisler stole the ball and made what appeared to be an unstoppable dash for the other end, Puida chased him down and made a clean, leaping block of his shot near the baseline.
Hawaii's overall shooting performance from the field (39 percent) paled in comparison to Monday night's 60 percent.
But the turnstile crowd of 3,338 saw the Rainbows put four players in double figures for the second night in a row while holding the Leathernecks to 17 field goals.
At 8 tonight in the concluding game of the Nike Festival, Hawaii faces its highest rated opponent thus far this season.
Creighton (9-0) throttled Florida Atlantic, 66-46, in an earlier game last night.
But the Rainbows easily took apart a Western Illinois team that trailed Creighton by only three points (70-67) with 1:35 left Monday night. (The Bluejays won it, 76-72.)
Western Illinois head coach Jim Kerwin said he thinks Hawaii has a chance to end Creighton's streak.
"It's going to be strength inside (Hawaii) against perimeter (Creighton)," he said. "Creighton has two really great guards (Ben Walker, Ryan Sears) and I think Hawaii has the advantage in size. It will be an interesting game."
Creighton head coach Dana Altman said he doesn't know a lot about the Rainbows but respects them.
"We're concerned about their athleticism and they play awfully well at home," said Altman.
Kerwin said his team's 16 percent shooting (3-for-18) from 3-point range last night was a major factor in the game.
"We usually shoot 45 percent team from 3-point range," said Kerwin. "They did a pretty good job on us from the perimeter. And I think they were just more physical than we were."
Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace sounded more than pleased with his team's defense.
"We didn't give them any easy shots," said Wallace who used a pressure defense almost the whole way. "We used a zone for two or three possessions in the second half but then we went back to the man-to-man."
Troy Ostler had 15 points to lead Hawaii in scoring for the second straight night, while Predrag Savovic matched Puida with 14 of his own, and Marquette Alexander, plagued with four fouls and an unusually poor night from the field (5-for-14), added 10.
"We knew coming in it was going to be a lot more physical than it was last night," said the 6-foot-9, 205-pound Ostler, who banged underneath with Western Illinois's rugged 6-10, 240-pound Fernando Coloneze (game-high 17 points).
"We knew their big guys were really physical down low, so we talked before the game and decided we were going to be the aggressors. We weren't going to get pushed around or beat up."
Creighton 66, Fla. Atlantic 46: The Bluejays waltzed past the struggling Owls (1-7). In a game that saw Creighton put 11 players in the scoring column, the Owls trailed by as much as 34 points.
Ben Walker led the Bluejays with 10 points.
Nike Festival
Who: Florida Atlantic vs. Western Illinois, 6 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Creighton, 8 p.m.
Leathernecks (4-8) Hawaii 72, W. Illinois 58
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martinez 3 9 2 2 17 3 2 8 Robins 1 7 1 2 23 1 2 4 Wessel 3 8 1 2 17 2 2 8 Heisler 1 7 2 2 28 2 3 4 Coloneze 4 7 9 11 27 4 1 17 Haggins 1 1 0 1 13 0 1 3 Fox 0 0 0 0 6 1 0 0 Makke 0 2 4 4 10 3 1 4 Fosdyck 1 8 0 0 20 2 1 2 Chism 0 0 0 0 12 4 1 0 Canaday 2 4 2 2 21 3 0 6 Nagle 1 1 0 0 4 0 0 2 Turner 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 17 55 21 26 200 34 14 58Rainbows (7-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 5 7 1 3 22 4 2 14 White 3 7 0 0 28 3 6 6 Puida 6 10 0 0 30 7 3 14 Ostler 6 9 3 4 29 6 2 15 Alexander 5 14 0 1 21 6 0 10 McIntyre 0 4 0 0 19 1 1 0 Takaki 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 2 Hall 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 Robinson 0 3 3 4 14 2 0 5 O’Connor 1 6 2 4 20 4 0 5 Fields 0 5 3 4 13 4 0 3 Holliday 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Team 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 26 66 14 22 200 41 16 72Halftime-Hawaii 39, Florida Atlantic 32.3-point goals--W. Illinois 3-18 (Robins 1-7, Wessel 1-2, Haggins 1-1, Heisler 0-3, Fosdyck 0-5); UH 6-16 (Savovic 3-4, Puida 2-5, O'Connor 1-3, McIntyre 0-2, Robinson 0-1, Holliday 0-1). Personal fouls--WI 21, UH 19. Fouled out--O'Connor. Steals--WI 9, UH 8 (Puida 4, White, Alexander, McIntyre, Fields) . Blocked shots--WI 3, UH 4. Turnovers--WI 20, UH 18. Officials--Michael Ashurst, Howard Burgess, Larry Yamashita. A-3,338.
Creighton 66, Florida Atlantic 46
FLORIDA ATLANTIC: Lee 4-10 1-2 9, Griesser 0-2 2-2 2, Hercek 2-9 0-0 6, Williams 2-5 3-6 7, Skeete 0-4 1-2 1, Murphy 4-6 0-0 10, Reimeris 1-3 2-2 5, Baxley 1-4 2-2 4, Peterkin 0-3 2-2 2. Totals 14-46 13-18 46,
CREIGHTON: West 1-4 0-0 3, Walker 4-7 0-0 10, Sears 1-7 0-0 3, Johnson 2-4 2-2 6, Karlikanovas 3-4 0-0 7, Huss 2-4 1-2 5, Kolder 0-1 5-6 5, Angner 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor 3-9 1-1 8, Korver 4-11 0-1 9, Klein 0-0 0-0 0, Pyfrom 1-4 2-4 4, Haynes 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 24-59 11-16 66.
Halftime--Creighton 29, Florida Atlantic 16. 3-point goals--Florida Atlantic 5-18, Creighton 7-25. Rebounds--Florida Atlantic 26 (Lee 5), Creighjton 42 (Taylor 7). Assists--Florida Atlantic 7 (Murphy 3), Creighton 15 (Walker 3). Total fouls--Florida Atlantic 16, Creighton 18. A--NA.
