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Monday, December 18, 2000
All those folks who went Christmas shopping instead of to the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday missed the University of Hawaii men's basketball team's most entertaining showing of the young season. Martin, Hilton help
’Bows break BroncsBy Dave Reardon
Star-BulletinBut 3,141 saw freshmen Phil Martin and Jeep Hilton play well in their first starts as UH used its fastbreak often in beating Texas-Pan American, 86-73, and improving to 2-3.
Rainbow coach Riley Wallace said it shouldn't be a surprise that his team can play well in transition, even against a small, quick team like the Broncs.
"I think we can run against anyone," Wallace said. We just have to find three that want to go. Nerijus (Puida) will run all day and Savo (Predrag Savovic) will run all day. So if Jeep will pick it up and push it down and look for it, there will be a running game."
The quickness and court vision of point guard Hilton -- the lithe 5-foot-11 freshman -- is just one key to the Rainbows' ability to run. Good defense, rebounding and depth are others.
UH's defense was spotty at times Saturday, especially in the first half. But Hawaii did a good job protecting the basket late in the game, outscoring UTPA, 14-3, in the last 4:07.
The Rainbows outrebounded the Broncos, 31-21 -- Troy Ostler's 15 boards helped UH dominate there. But Hawaii won't always dwarf the opposing frontline as it did Saturday.
The emergence of Hilton (7 points, 5 assists, 2 steals in 30 minutes) and Martin (16 points on 7-of-8 from the field and four rebounds in 34 minutes) not only makes the Rainbows more exciting, but deeper, too.
That should help Hawaii as it plays three games in three days starting Thursday in the Nike Festival.
Wallace said playing only one game in the space of 19 days helped his younger players.
"We were able to play Phil and Jeep because we had lots of days to practice and give them a lot of reps in practice and tell them get out there and play, because there's no excuse now that you don't know what's going on," Wallace said. "We'll have to live with a few mistakes, but they're freshmen.
"They both played very well and contributed to the win."
If Hilton continues to play well, Mike McIntyre, Hawaii's best outside shooter, won't have to worry about playing point guard as much.
It seemed to help him Saturday, as he made 3-of-5 shots from behind the 3-point line. He also took a key charge late in the game.
McIntyre (and two other former starters, Bosko Radovic and Mindaugas Burneika) coming off the bench is also key to Hawaii's being able to run.
"We're better at home when we're running," said Wallace.
"It's a matter of playing defense. We want to push it and score and come back and play defense. Every time we made a run it was with fastbreak basketball," Wallace added.
HAWAII 86, UTPA 73
Broncs (3-5)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Curtis 4 7 0 1 39 2 7 9 Braxton 3 6 1 2 31 3 3 9 Sanders 5 8 0 1 33 4 1 10 Hill 0 2 2 2 9 2 1 2 Merriweather 7 14 0 0 29 1 2 19 Chatman 5 10 2 2 26 4 1 13 Quinn 5 11 0 1 30 2 1 11 Gurley 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 29 58 5 9 200 21 16 73
Rainbows (2-3)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 6 12 0 0 28 3 2 13 Martin 7 8 2 3 34 4 0 16 Hilton 3 5 1 2 30 1 5 7 Puida 4 6 3 4 32 4 10 12 Ostler 10 16 3 5 28 15 2 23 McIntyre 5 8 2 2 31 3 3 15 Radovic 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 Burneika 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Fields 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 35 55 11 16 200 31 22 86 Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime-Hawaii 43, UTPA 37.
3-point goals--UTPA 10-19 (Merriweather 5-9, Braxton 2-4, Curtis 1-2, Chatman 1-2, Quinn 1-2); UH 5-12 (McIntyre 3-5, Puida 1-2, Savovic 1-4, Hilton 0-1). Personal fouls--UTPA 19, UH 13. Fouled out--None. Technical fouls-None. Steals--UTPA 13 (Braxton 5, Sanders 4, Chatman 2, Hill, Merriweather), UH 8 (Martin 2, Hilton 2, Ostler 2, Puida, McIntyre). Blocked shots--UTPA 2 (Sanders, Chatman), UH 1 (Ostler). Turnovers--UTPA 17 (Chatman 6, Braxton 4, Curtis 3, Sanders 2, Quinn, Gurley), UH 18 (Ostler 6, Savovic 3, Martin 3, Hilton 2, McIntyre 2, Puida, Burneika).
Officials--Sitov, Petersen, Yoshida. A-5,756 (tickets distributed), 3,141.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
