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Friday, January 12, 2001
Rainbows’ Two weeks ago, Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace praised his team's heart. Now he says he wants the Rainbows to "stop feeling sorry for themselves."
woes continue
Hawaii falls to UTEP in
WAC home opener; aims to end
four-game skid against
Tulsa tomorrowShimonovich gets go-ahead from NCAA
By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin
After last night's 79-71 loss to Texas El-Paso (12-1, 2-0) in the WAC home-opener at the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawaii (6-8, 0-3) has dropped four straight.
The Rainbows couldn't stop forward Brandon Wolfram, who scored 28 points, and point guard Eugene Costello, who added 23. UTEP controlled most of the way after UH last led, 13-11, and held off a late Rainbow run.
Things don't get much easier for Hawaii, as defending conference champion Tulsa (10-5, 1-1) comes to town for a game tomorrow.
Injuries and other circumstances have disabled four key UH performers and forced backups into bigger roles than expected.
But last night's game was extremely winnable -- UH was within two points with 1:40 left -- as was the Rainbow Classic final loss to Tennessee that started the slump.
"We've got to be a smart ballclub, we've got to be fighters," Wallace said. "The five on the floor have to play hard."
It's not physical effort he's questioning as much as attitude.
"Guys are dropping their heads after mistakes, they're getting down on themselves," Wallace said.
"It's mental flatness. This team is so flat it's unbelievable."
There is at least one Rainbow, though, whose spirit seems unconquerable.
Junior guard Predrag Savovic scored a career-high 31 points. He said he'd trade them all for a win.
Savovic also absorbed the brunt of UTEP's physical play, as he was knocked to the floor several times.
"I feel disappointed that we lost another game," he said. "We just need to get together and play for 40 minutes. We always have a few minutes where we let down."Last night, those minutes were at the very end.
The Miners led, 64-52, with 8:30 remaining. But the Rainbows, with Ricky Terrell playing well at the point and some good team defense, crept back. They closed to 73-71 on Carl English's 18-footer with 1:40 left.
Phil Martin then took a charge. But on the next offensive sequence, Martin stepped out of bounds as he drove the baseline, returning the ball to the Miners with 1:04 left.
Martin said he was pushed out of bounds by Wolfram. It was one of several calls to go against Hawaii at the end.
"On the road you've got to find a way to win," said second-year UTEP coach Jason Rabedeaux, after the Miners' first WAC road win under his direction.
"We held our poise and made plays down the stretch."
Savovic and Mindaugas Burneika shot airballs and Terrell lost the ball on a bad pass down the stretch; meanwhile, Costello made 4-of-6 free throws and Wolfram converted 2-of-2.
Hawaii post Troy Ostler, battling a sprained left ankle, did not play for the second game in a row. Guard Mike McIntyre, with a sprained right ankle, played only four ineffective minutes.
UTEP shot 60.9 percent, the best against UH this year.
"We didn't execute in the first half, offensively or defensively," Wallace said.
"In the second half pride took over a little bit. (But) we took too long to really turn it up."
UTEP 79, Hawaii 71
Miners (13-1, 2-0 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Neal 3 5 0 0 31 0 5 7 Smallwood 4 5 0 0 28 2 1 8 Costello 7 11 8 14 31 4 2 23 Wolfram 9 12 10 10 35 4 2 28 Stewart 2 4 2 4 30 9 0 6 Owens 3 5 0 0 19 2 0 7 Jarrell 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Luces 0 4 0 0 16 3 2 0 Enzweiler 0 0 0 0 6 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 28 46 20 28 200 26 12 79 Rainbows (6-8, 0-3 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 11 21 6 6 40 4 3 31 Martin 4 8 1 2 36 7 3 9 Hilton 2 4 0 0 19 1 0 5 Burneika 4 6 2 2 30 3 1 12 Puida 2 10 2 2 34 8 5 6 McIntyre 0 3 0 0 4 2 0 0 Takaki 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Terrell 1 3 1 2 16 2 6 4 English 1 1 0 0 7 0 0 2 O’Connor 1 3 0 1 11 1 0 2 Fields 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 26 59 12 15 200 30 18 71 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-UTEP 38, Hawaii 31.
3-point goals--UTEP 3-7 (Owens 1-1, Neal 1-2, Costello 1-3, Luces 0-1); UH 7-17 (Savovic 3-7, Burneika 2-3, Hilton 1-1, Terrell 1-3, Puida 0-1, McIntyre 0-2). Personal fouls--UTEP 20, UH 21. Fouled out--Burneika. Technical fouls-None. Steals--UTEP 8 (Costello 2, Wolfram 2, Luces 2, Neal, Owens), UH 6 (Burneika 2, Puida 2, Martin, Terrell). Blocked shots--UTEP 3 (Luces 2, Stewart), UH 3 (Burneika, Puida, Terrell). Turnovers--UTEP 14 (Wolfram 4, Costello 3, Neal 2, Smallwood 2, Jarrell, Enzweiler), UH 17 (Savovic 5, Puida 5, Hilton 2, Terrell 2, Martin, Burneika, English). Officials--Ranucci, Collins, Pyatt. A-5,875 (tickets distributed), 3,591.
ConferenceAll Games WAC
Conference All Games W L Pct. W L Pct. Fresno St. 3 0 1.000 14 2 .875 SMU 3 0 1.000 12 3 .800 UTEP 2 0 1.000 12 1 .923 TCU 2 1 .667 12 4 .750 Rice 1 1 .500 9 4 .692 Tulsa 1 1 .500 10 5 .667 San Jose St. 0 3 .000 8 6 .571 Nevada 0 3 .000 7 7 .500 Hawaii 0 3 .000 6 8 .429 Yesterday
Texas-El Paso 79, Hawaii 71
SMU 82, Nevada 77
Tulsa 63, San Jose State 57Tomorrow
All times HST
SMU at Fresno State, 5 p.m.
TCU at Nevada, 5 p.m.
Texas-El Paso at San Jose State, 5:30 p.m.
Tulsa at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii