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Monday, February 21, 2000
Fields becoming force
By Pat Bigold
off bench for ’Bows
Star-BulletinIt was the final home game of the men's basketball season at the Stan Sheriff Center, and an evening that belonged to the University of Hawaii's three departing seniors.
But the trio didn't mind that junior 7-footer Todd Fields came off the bench to steal the show with a hard-nosed defensive effort in the low post that helped the Rainbows rout Rice, 90-63, before 4,774 fans.
The win ended a four-game losing streak and improved Hawaii's record to 5-7 in the Western Athletic Conference and 16-9 overall. The Rainbows moved into fifth place in the standings with two regular season games left to play - both on the road.
Hawaii will visit San Jose State (13-13, 4-7 WAC) on Saturday and finish at Fresno State on March 4 before opening in the WAC tournament on March 9.
Eight Rainbow players had eight points or more against Rice in one of the most balanced offensive displays of the season.
Troy Ostler, a 6-9 junior power forward, finished with 15 points to lead five Rainbows in double figures, while senior 6-8 center Marquette Alexander had 14 for his 20th consecutive double-digit performance.
Senior point guard Johnny White and sophomore shooting guard Predrag Savovic scored 11 each for Hawaii, while guard-forward Geremy Robinson, the third departing senior, added 10.
Fields added a fierce new element to Hawaii's low post game, and might have earned himself a much bigger role the rest of the season. Until Saturday night, Alexander was the only real muscle the Rainbows had inside.
But Fields dished out a ton of punishment to neutralize Rice's bullying near the basket, earning himself a standing ovation when he left the floor in the second half. He had a career-high eight points, a career-high eight rebounds, a block and a steal to start a fast break in a performance that was critical to the win.
Fields was a key factor in UH out-rebounding Rice, 38-25.
"Todd has been doing a good job for us, but tonight was a special night for him," said Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace.
"We knew he could play the post defense, it was just a matter of getting him a little bit involved in the offense. And he tried to score and he tried to look at the right spots, catch some balls and do something with them and he got some boards. As he's gotten stronger, he's gotten better."
Plagued with painful tendinitis earlier in the season, Fields winced every time he ran. But in the past several weeks he has been running and jumping without any visible signs of discomfort.
Fields, who'd been averaging just over six minutes, stayed in for a career-high 26 minutes and started the second half in place of game starter Ostler.
"I kept Todd Fields in for as long as he could go," said Wallace. "His conditioning is not for long minutes but he gave it everything he had."
Rice head coach Willis Wilson said he thought Fields' performance was a major factor for Hawaii.
"I think Fields was a big factor, and he gave them the depth off the bench they sorely needed," said Wilson.
"He was able to come in and play extended minutes and bang. Not only did he make it difficult for our big guys to duck close to the basket, he kind of nickel-and-dimed us a little. He got a putback here, a rebound there, he used his physical body to wear down even our perimeter guys when we were trying to get to the basket.
"That's one of the things you don't see in the box score. When you have a big guy who can have a sense of what's transpiring on the floor coming off the bench, he can come in with a little bit of an attitude and give his team what's lacking."
"Fields tonight was an intimidator" said Wallace. "But whether we get that on a steady basis from him, I don't know. But we're going to look at it for the next game and see where we want to go with that."
WAC MEN
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Tulsa 10 1 .909 25 2 .926 SMU 9 3 .750 21 5 .808 Fresno State 7 3 .700 17 9 .654 TCU 6 6 .500 15 13 .536 Hawaii 5 7 .417 16 9 .640 UTEP 4 7 .364 13 11 .542 San Jose State 4 7 .364 13 13 .500 Rice 0 11 .000 4 19 .174 Saturday's results
SMU 83, UTEP 81
Tulsa 64, San Jose State 56
Hawaii 90, Rice 63Yesterday's result
Fresno State 98, TCU 93
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
