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Monday, February 12, 2001
No flubs by FRESNO, Calif. -- Hawaii returned from the mainland empty handed today after dropping two road games , both by double digits.
Fresno State against
Hawaii this time
The Bulldogs let it be known
they wanted no repeat of their
last game against the RainbowsBy Eric Prisbell
Special to the Star-BulletinYesterday's loss was a 86-63 rout against a vengeful Fresno State team at its finest.
The Rainbows had pasted the Bulldogs by 18 points 10 days earlier. Boosted by a Selland Arena, crowd of 10,220, the Bulldogs made sure there would be no repeat.
"We knew they wanted to win really bad," said Troy Ostler, who scored 15 points. "They made that known in the news."
Fresno State players said they wanted to return the favor and "embarrass" the Rainbows. Bulldogs' senior guard Demetrius Porter even said he "wanted to win by 50 points, 100-50."
Fresno State improved to 20-3 overall and 9-1 in the WAC, as coach Jerry Tarkanian reached 20 wins in a season for the 29th time. No. 23 Fresno State dominated by rectifying every flub and miscue rendered in the first meeting. The two games were as similar as cheese doodles and caviar.
Only sweet-shooting Predrag Savovic was the same, collecting 24 points (18 in the first half). He scored 26 in the first contest.
"He's a bad dude," Porter said in praise.
Hawaii (10-12, 4-7 WAC) had jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first meeting, but trailed 13-5 early yesterday.
The Rainbows shot 10-for-14 from 3-point range in the first meeting, but could only manage a 3-for-16 outside shooting clip in the rematch.
Hawaii won the first meeting with a slew of backdoor layups. Fresno State didn't allow easy layups yesterday, and instead forced 26 turnovers, including 16 in the first half.
"They just upped the intensity," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "Just like we did with our offense in Hawaii. If we got past the initial traps and pressure we would have had easy transition baskets."
In the first meeting, the Bulldogs abandoned center Melvin Ely late in the game, becoming satisfied flinging up 3-pointers. Yesterday, however, they went to their elder statesman often; Ely scored 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting. He added four blocked shots.
"He was a force," Wallace said. "When we did run our offense and get the ball inside, he intimidated us."
The Rainbows -- losers of 13 consecutive road games -- closed the gap to six with a Phil Martin layup to start the second half, but Fresno State unleashed a 16-2 run over a 5:23 stretch to lengthen the lead to 61-39 with 12:57 remaining.
Hawaii made four of its first 18 shots from the floor in the second half.
Tarkanian, assuming the lead was safe, turned to four reserves midway through the half. Not so fast, as the Rainbows cut the lead to 12 with 6:02 left. Tarkanian called a timeout and put four starters back in the game.
"I want to play the other guys to keep the harmony on the team," said Tarkanian, who had five starters in double figures. "But I can't afford to take a chance losing a game just to make someone happy."
As Hawaii was whittling away at the lead, two of its best players --Savovic and Ostler -- were on the bench, and were ushered back in with less than five minutes remaining. The two had combined for 28 of Hawaii's 33 first-half points, but scored only a combined 11 points in the second half on 4-for-15 shooting.
"They weren't doing a damn thing," Wallace said. "Predrag and (point guard) David Hilton combined for 14 turnovers. Maybe I should have left them on the bench longer."
Fresno State's point guard Tito Maddox -- who says there's at least a 50-percent chance he will bolt to the NBA next season--scored 15 points, dished out eight assists and snared six rebounds. Porter collected six steals.
Hawaii reserve Mindaugas Burneika scored 27 points in the first meeting, but went scoreless yesterday.
"I was glad we held him to zero points," Tarkanian said. "I thought he was going to declare hardship (for the NBA) after that first game."
Fresno St. 86, Hawaii 63
Rainbows (10-12, 4-7 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 1 6 6 6 22 4 0 8 Puida 0 2 0 0 30 11 2 0 Ostler 6 15 3 5 29 4 2 15 Savovic 8 16 7 7 35 6 2 24 Hilton 0 5 0 1 23 1 2 0 McIntyre 2 5 0 0 21 1 2 4 Burneika 0 2 0 0 15 2 0 0 English 3 4 0 0 11 0 1 8 O’Conner 2 3 0 0 6 0 0 4 Fields 0 0 0 0 8 0 1 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 22 58 16 19 200 31 12 63
Bulldogs (20-3, 9-1 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Jefferies 3 7 5 6 22 4 2 12 Swillis 6 9 0 0 31 6 2 12 Ely 10 14 2 2 31 9 2 22 Maddox 4 13 7 9 34 6 8 15 Porter 5 11 0 0 30 3 2 13 Nathan 3 3 0 0 15 2 0 6 Jackson 1 2 0 0 0+ 0 0 3 Felix 0 3 0 0 8 1 0 0 DeManey 1 2 0 0 18 4 2 3 Al-Sayyad 0 1 0 0 11 1 1 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 33 65 14 17 200 36 19 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-Fresno St. 41, Hawaii 33.
3-point goals--Hawaii 3-16 (English 2-3, Savovic 1-7, Burneika 0-1, Hilton 0-1, Ostler 0-1, McIntyre 0-3); Fresno St. 6-16 (Porter 3-8, DeManey 1-2, Jackson 1-2, Jefferies 1-2, Maddox 0-1, Swillis 0-1). Personal fouls--Hawaii 13, Fresno St. 19. Fouled out--None. Technical fouls-None. Steals--Hawaii 11 (Savovic 5, Burneika, Hilton, McIntyre, Martin, Ostler, Puida), Fresno St. 11 (Porter 6, Maddox 2, Al-Sayyad, Ely, Jefferies). Blocked shots--Hawaii 3 (Ostler 3), Fresno St. 7 (Ely 4, Al-Sayyad, Felix, Swillis). Turnovers--Hawaii 26 (Savovic 8, Hilton 6, Puida 4, Martin 3, McIntyre 3, Burneika, Ostler), Fresno St. 18 (Maddox 5, Al-Sayyad 3, Jefferies 3, Ely 2, Nathan 2, Porter 2, Felix). Officials--Libbey, Gaspar, Cartmill. A-10,220.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii