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Friday, January 26, 2001

Rainbows’
road rash ongoing

A slow start proves to be
disastrous for Hawaii in
70-64 loss to Rice

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By Richard Dean
Special to the Star-Bulletin

If only Hawaii can get a good start on a road game, the Rainbows would enhance their chances of winning. These road trips are brutal.

Especially the way Hawaii started out against Rice last night at Autry Court.

In the first seven minutes, the Rainbows had eight turnovers and only two points. They never fully recovered.

Rice took advantage of Hawaii's slow start to defeat the Rainbows, 70-64, in a WAC game.

"We started out sluggish and they were real aggressive," said Hawaii coach Riley Wallace. "We had a lot of early turnovers. So they jumped on us and set the pace for the ballgame.

Hawaii remained winless on the road (0-4) this season.

"We've got to play 40 minutes, especially on the road," Wallace said. "It would have been a better game if we would have played 40 instead of 30 minutes."

Hawaii led only once, at 2-0, and quickly fell behind 11-2.

The Rainbows made only one of their first six shots and didn't make their second field goal until 12:50 remained in the first half.

Even though Hawaii got within a point at 48-47 with 9:30 left in the game, and within three points at 67-64 with only 15 seconds remaining, the Rainbows were victims of their poor beginning.

"The first 10 minutes, we do that on every road trip," said Hawaii center Troy Ostler, who scored a game-high 27 points. "(Then) we finally realize that we're falling behind, getting our butts kicked. So we finally get our act together, but by the time we go through that next 10 minutes and the second half, it's too late."

Hawaii (8-9, 2-4) dug itself into a hole it couldn't get out of. Not even the shooting of Ostler, Predrag Savovic (18 points) and Nerijus Puida (14 points) could overtake the Owls (11-6, 3-2), who got 18 points from guard Mike Wilks.

"I think once our team sees the other team make a jump at the end of the game we get down on ourselves," said Ostler. "We think it's over. Pretty soon this team's got to realize that it's not over until the buzzer sounds."

Rice 70, Hawaii 64

Warriors (8-9, 2-4 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	reb	a	tp	min
Martin	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	17
Puida	5	7	1	1	2	2	14	26
Ostler	9	16	9	11	5	0	27	33
Savovic	5	14	4	4	10	5	18	39
Hilton	0	1	0	2	2	5	0	31
McIntyre	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	5
Terrell	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	8
Burneika	2	7	0	0	1	4	5	28
English	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	13
Team	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Totals	21	50	14	18	29	17	64	200

Owls (11-6, 3-2 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	reb	a	tp	min
Cooper	5	6	2	2	4	1	14	26
Diene	1	3	4	4	5	1	6	26
McKenzie	3	6	0	0	5	0	6	15
Tyndell	5	10	0	2	1	4	12	35
Wilks	3	11	11	13	5	5	18	39
Evans	1	2	2	2	4	0	4	25
Walton	2	5	0	1	1	3	6	23
Craig	1	1	0	0	1	0	2	2
Morgans	1	1	0	0	1	0	2	9
Team	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Totals	22	45	19	24	29	14	70	200

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 score-Rice 30, Hawaii 26

3-point goals-Hawaii 8-18 (Savovic 4-7, Puida 3-4, Burneika 1-3, McIntyre 0-2, Hilton 0-1, English 0-1), Rice 7-18 (Tyndell 2-6, Walton 2-4, Cooper 2-3, Wilks 1-5). Personal fouls-Hawaii 20, Rice 19. Fouled out-Hilton, Morgan, Evans.

Steals-Hawaii 1 (Burneika), Rice 10 (Wilks 5, Walton 2, Cooper, McKenzie, Evans). Blocked shots-Hawaii 2 (Ostler 2), Rice 5 (Diene 4, Wilks). Turnovers-Hawaii 15 (Hilton 6, Savovic 3, Ostler 2, Puida, Burneika, English), Rice 13 (Cooper 3, Diene 3, Tyndell 2, McKenzie, Wilks, Evans, Craig, Morgan). Officials-O'Neill, Hall, Bosone. A-2,514.

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii