Monday, November 12, 2001
[ UH BASKETBALL ]
Rainbows rev up Rainbow Warriors, meet the Road Warriors.
after ragged start
Hawaii charges back from a
14-point deficit to defeat EA SportsBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe EA Sports West All-Stars, playing their seventh game in as many nights, turned out the lights on their 10-game, 12-day tour by nearly turning out the lights on Hawaii.
The All-Stars hit 11 3-pointers, including five in the first five minutes of the second half, but faded at the end. Hawaii rallied from a 14-point deficit midway through the second half to pull out an 85-81 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"It was a little ragged as was to be expected," said Rainbow coach Riley Wallace. "Of course we were concerned being behind (71-57 at one point), but they dug down and played to win."
Hawaii avoided its first exhibition loss since 1998, when center Erin Galloway was a senior. Galloway was added to the All-Star roster Saturday night and finished with four points and four rebounds.
"It was fun being out there again," said Galloway. "It was more fun playing with the 'Bows.
"I thought they (Hawaii) played real well together, very unselfish. It was like when I played with AC (Anthony Carter) and Alika (Smith).''
The ghosts of the former Rainbow guards were reincarnated in the form of seniors Predrag Savovic and Mike McIntyre, and junior newcomer Mark Campbell.
Down 77-66 with 7:12 left, Hawaii went on an 11-0 run to tie it at 77-77 with 3:28 to go. Keying the spurt were McIntyre, who had a steal and two assists, and Campbell, who scored five points, including a basket off an alley-oop pass from McIntyre.
Jabari Johnson's tip-in off Jason Crowe's 3-point miss put EA Sports back on top at 79-77. The All-Stars didn't score again until there was a second left. By then the Rainbows had scored six in putting away the game.
Crowe led all scorers with 23, while teammates Andre Larry added 22 and Johnson 19. The All-Stars hit 11 of 34 3-point attempts and "this was the best we shot in all of our games,'' said EA Sports coach Dudley Rutherford, whose team opened its 10-game tour on Oct. 31.
"Fresno State was the best team we've played (a 104-54 loss Wednesday), but Hawaii played well. They're very disciplined with good, new players. We would have liked to have had this win.''
Hawaii wanted it more, according to Campbell.
"When we were behind, we weren't worried,'' he said. "We knew if we could play our game, we could come back.
"We made the plays and played good defense.''
But not at the beginning of the second half. Hawaii switched to a zone and the All-Stars went into a zone, outscoring the Rainbows 19-6 in the opening five minutes.
"One thing we wanted to work on was our zone defense,'' said Wallace. "We went to the 3-2, and they went off on us. We know we need to work on it more.''
EA Sports was coming off a 96-68 loss Saturday at UNLV, where Crowe was the high scorer with 13 points.
"Coming here was a great challenge for us,'' said Crowe. "We got pretty excited when we started hitting those (3s). I give Hawaii a lot of credit for coming back like they did.''
The Rainbows finished with six players in double-figure scoring, led by Savovic's 20. Haim Shimonovich and Carl English had 14 apiece, McIntyre 12, Campbell 11 and Mindaugas Burneika 10.
Hawaii outrebounded the visitors 40-35 and had a 23-17 advantage in assists.
Hawaii scored the final six points of the first half to take a 47-38 lead into the locker room. Campbell hit a flying layup with four seconds left then stole the inbounds pass, hitting a short jumper at the buzzer.
The All-Stars stayed alive in the first half thanks to 5-of-13 shooting behind the arc. Johnson hit three 3-pointers in the first seven minutes and Larry's 3-pointer with 7:44 remaining capped a 9-0 run that put the All-Stars in front, 31-28.
Damion Walker's jumper with five minutes left gave EA Sports its final lead of the first half at 35-34. The Rainbows responded with seven unanswered points.
Hawaii 85, EA Sports West All-Stars 81
All-Stars: Johnson 6-10 3-3 19, Titus 0-1 0-0 0, Crowe 10-17 0-0 23, Walker 3-6 2-2 8, Murdock 0-2 2-2 2, Larry 9-20 1-2 22, McClinn 1-9 0-0 3, Galloway 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 31-70 8-9 81
Rainbows: Savovic 9-17 0-0 20, McIntyre 5-12 1-2 12, Shimonovich 6-11 2-3 14, Burneika 4-9 1-1 10, English 6-10 1-2 14, Takaki 0-0 0-0 0, Zivanovic 0-1 0-2 0, Campbell 4-6 3-5 11, Holliday 0-0 0-0 0, Jesinskis 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 36-68 8-15 85
Halftime--UH 47, EA 38. Rebounds--UH 40 (Shimonovich 8, English 8), EA 35 (Crowe 10). Assists--UH 23 (Shimonovich 5, English 5), EA 17 (Crowe 6). Blocked shots--UH 2 (Shimonovich, Jesinskis), EA 2 (Walker, Larry). Steals--UH 5 (Savovic 2, McIntyre 2), EA 8 (Crowe 5). Turnovers--UH 12 (English 4), EA 11 (Titus 3).
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