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Saturday, December 23, 2000
’Bows don’t Those who fail to learn from the past become stronger.
let down
Ostler scores 34 points
as Hawaii learns how not
to choke at the endBy Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin...Or is it what doesn't kill you makes you doomed to repeat it?
The University of Hawaii men's basketball team hasn't perfectly absorbed all the lessons about turning previous errors into future success.
But the Rainbows learned enough from Thursday night's choke against Georgia State to dig deep and hold off Cal State-Northridge, 76-70, in a Nike Festival game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"The thought was there, now we've got to put it into action," a semi-satisfied UH coach Riley Wallace said after another near collapse. Hawaii blew an 11-point lead in losing, 65-64, to Georgia State Thursday. "The experience of last night helped tonight."
Hawaii (3-4) led Northridge (6-5) by 16 in the first half and by nine with 9:02 left in the game.
"It's a great victory. Especially when it comes down to that close stretch and we can pull it out," senior center Troy Ostler said.
Ostler scored a career-high 34 points and collected 10 rebounds. He has made 21-of-25 shots from the field the past two nights.
But the biggest single play last night was the rebound by freshman Phil Martin with seven seconds left and UH leading, 75-70.
"He made a tough play, went up and got it," Wallace said. "If he'd done that (Thursday when Georgia State's Bam Campbell scored on an offensive rebound to beat UH), we would have won. But he's a freshman and he's learning."
Part of tonight's lesson is about dealing with a physical, athletic team coming off a tough loss.
Hawaii plays Alabama-Birmingham -- the former team of guard Predrag Savovic and assistant coach Scott Rigot -- at 7:30. UAB also blew a lead in falling to Georgia State, 74-63, yesterday.
Northridge meets Georgia State at 5.
Ostler's dominance last night was partly due to the absence of the Matadors' All-American center, Brian Heinle, saddled with two fouls most of the first half.
"(Ostler) got a lot of baskets early with the big guy out, but he worked tonight," Wallace said. "He boarded and was hitting his shot. The mentality is good when the shot goes in. It helps all phases of your game."
The second-guessing was rampant when Northridge coach Bobby Braswell resisted bringing Heinle back in when Carl English's breakaway dunk made it 33-17, UH, at 4:29 before halftime.
"That's our philosophy, that's how we play. A guy gets two fouls and he's done for the half," Braswell said. "It's a good thing we did because (Heinle) was big for us in the second half."
He finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, both highs for the Matadors.
But Heinle also lost the ball out of bounds with 47 seconds left and Northridge having closed to 73-70.
Then, in the breath-holding finish, the teams traded turnovers, CSN missed its last four shots, Savovic made two free throws and Martin came up with his big board.
"We didn't play our best game, but you've got to give it to Hawaii. They came out with hunger and the desire to win," Braswell said.
Hawaii 76, Cal State-Northridge 70
Matadors (6-5)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Carr 3 8 5 6 38 2 5 11 Burrell 2 15 4 4 33 2 0 9 Heinle 7 14 2 2 25 11 6 17 Busch 2 4 0 0 14 0 0 4 Parris 3 7 0 1 15 3 0 6 McCain 1 5 2 2 19 1 0 5 Benjamin 0 0 0 0 22 2 0 0 Holmes 1 5 1 2 19 4 1 3 Welch 5 6 3 4 13 4 0 13 Read 0 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 24 65 19 23 200 32 13 70 Rainbows (3-4)
Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 5 12 7 9 31 6 1 18 Martin 2 3 1 2 19 5 0 5 Hilton 1 5 0 2 34 1 5 3 Puida 0 4 1 2 40 3 10 1 Ostler 12 14 10 12 34 10 2 34 McIntyre 1 1 2 2 7 0 1 5 Burneika 2 5 2 2 22 4 1 6 English 2 5 0 0 8 3 1 4 O’Connor 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 25 49 23 31 200 34 21 76
Halftime-Hawaii 37, Northridge 24.
3-point goals--CSUN 3-18 (Heinle 1-4, McCain 1-5, Burrell 1-7, Holmes 0-2); UH 3-13 (McIntyre 1-1, Savovic 1-4, Hilton 1-4, Puida 0-2, English 0-2). Personal fouls--CSUN 24, UH 22. Fouled out--Parris, Hilton. Technical fouls-Parris. Steals--CSUN 9 (Heinle 4, Carr, Burrell, Parris, McCain, Welch), UH 6 (Hilton 2, English 2, Savovic, Burneika). Blocked shots--CSUN 1 (Carr), UH 1 (Ostler). Turnovers--CSUN 15 (Parris 5, Carr 4, Heinle 3, Burrell, McCain, Benjamin), UH 23 (Hilton 6, Martin 4, Savovic 3, Puida 3, Ostler 2, McIntyre 2, Burneika 2, team 1). Officials--Maracich, Batsell, Petersen. A-5,727 (tickets distributed), 3,000 (estimated turnstile).
Georgia State 74, UAB 63
GEORGIA ST. (9-1): Terrell 3-6 9-11 16, Cooper 2-8 7-8 13, Morris 2-7 1-2 7, Long 6-12 3-6 20, Davis 2-3 4-4 8, B. Campbell 0-0 1-2 1, McIntosh 2-3 1-2 7,Gunsby 0-0 0-0 0, Gilchrist 1-1 0-0 2, Wootson 0-2 0-0 0, Patton 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 26-35 74.
UAB (5-4): Bass 4-9 5-5 13, Walker 10-13 0-1 20, Johnson 3-6 2-3 8, Arnold 4-14 2-2 10, Batchelor 3-6 1-2 9, Woods 0-1 0-0 0, Frericks 0-0 0-0 0, Nikolic 0-1 0-0 0, W. Campbell 1-1 1-3 3. Totals 25-51 11-16 63. Halftime--UAB 29, Georgia St. 26. 3-point goals--Georgia St. 12-29 (Long 5-8, McIntosh 2-3, Morris 2-5, Cooper 2-7, Terrell 1-3, Patton 0-1, Wootson 0-2), UAB 2-8 (Batchelor 2-4, Woods 0-1, Arnold 0-3). Rebounds--Georgia St. 25 (Terrell 13), UAB 29 (W. Campbell 6).Assists--Georgia St. 12 (Morris 7), UAB 10 (Johnson 4). Fouled out--Batchelor. Total fouls--Georgia St. 19, UAB 29.
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