Friday, December 28, 2001
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Rainbows take bite Trey magnifique.
out of Bulldogs
More than 8,000 see Hawaii
Fresno misses Ely
triumph in its WAC openerBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comHawaii hit a season-high nine 3-pointers, including a career-high five by Carl English, and used a stifling defense to defeat Fresno State 83-73 last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A season-high crowd of 8,238 (9,175 tickets) saw the Rainbows win their first Western Athletic Conference opener since 1997 as well as top the Bulldogs for the second game in a row for the first time.
Senior guard Predrag Savovic scored 23 points and English finished with 22 to lead Hawaii (10-2, 1-1) to its fourth win in a row. Mindaugas Burneika added 12 and Phil Martin had 10 points for the Rainbows, who will next host Nevada (8-3, 1-0) tomorrow at 7 p.m.
"We're an exciting team to watch," said English. "And when Savo and I are both hitting, it's hard to defend us. We have a lot of scorers, a lot of weapons."
Hawaii shot 46 percent from the field in shooting down Fresno State (8-5, 0-1). It was only the seventh time the Rainbows have beaten the Bulldogs but the third in four meetings.
"They bring out the best in us because they are the best team in the league," said Savovic, who also had 23 points in the win over the Bulldogs in the WAC tournament semifinal last year.
Fresno State was without All-American center Melvin Ely, who was finishing out an NCAA-mandated six-game suspension. Ely had traveled with the team as the school appealed the penalty. The NCAA denied the appeal yesterday afternoon.
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"The only good thing is that we get to play them twice," Ely said of the rematch on March 2. He leads the team in scoring (19.9 points), rebounds (9.3) and blocked shots (3.9)"I don't know how much Ely would have made a difference," said Fresno State Jerry Tarkanian. "The decision (on Ely) obviously had an effect, but you can't take away the effort from Hawaii. It's a loss for us.
"Hawaii's a very good team, Savovic was sensational in the second half, and I didn't think English could shoot that well."
Hawaii led by as many as 11 in the second half with English's career-high fifth 3-pointer putting the Rainbows up 55-44 with 13:15 to go. Sloppy ball-handling cost Hawaii a chance to go ahead by more and the Bulldogs took advantage.
Chris Jefferies scored eight of his team-high 21 points to spark a 10-3 Bulldog run that closed the gap to 58-54. Savovic answered with a pair of hoops to help Hawaii regain a 63-58 lead with 7:39 to go.
Chris Sandy, in his first game in a Bulldog uniform, hit two free throws as FSU began what would be its final run, closing to 63-60. Two consecutive 3-pointers by Damon Jackson helped the Bulldogs stay close at 73-66.
It would be the closest that FSU would come the rest of the way. Hawaii scored six unanswered points, including two free throws by Savovic following a technical on Jefferies, who reacted badly after being blocked by Haim Shimonovich.
Savovic sank the two free throws and the Rainbows went on a 10-4 run over the next three minutes. Jackson hit the last of his three 3-pointers with 70 seconds left for the final scoring.
"We have yet to put it together on offense and defense," said UH point guard Mark Campbell. "I think we finally got our offense going tonight, but our defense wasn't there the whole way."
The late-arriving crowd missed the opening 11 minutes when English hit three 3-pointers to help give Hawaii its biggest first-half lead at 25-17. Fresno State went 4-for-4 from the field and added two free throws to outscore the Rainbows 10-2 over the next three minutes and gain a 27-27 tie with 5:19 remaining.
A putback by Savovic gave Hawaii a brief 29-27 advantage, but FSU answered with a quick layup by Travis DeManby for the fourth tie of the first half with 4:42 remaining. An impressive putback by Noel Felix keyed a 5-3 run that put the Bulldogs up by two. Some 40 seconds later, Martin's layup off a fast-break assist from Mike McIntyre pulled the Rainbows into a 34-34 tie.
Campbell's first 3-pointer of the season with 75 seconds left capped the scoring, giving Hawaii a 37-34 lead at intermission. Martin, playing with an upset stomach, had 10 points and English 9 in the opening 20 minutes. Jefferies had 9 for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs stayed close, thanks to 54 percent free-throw shooting (6 of 11). The Rainbows did not go to the line until there was 4:18 left in the half when McIntyre went 1-for-2.
Hiram Fuller, who has started at center for Ely for six games, had 11 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 4:54 remaining.
It didn't take a rocket scientist -- or even a microbiologist -- to figure out why Hawaii beat Fresno State 83-73 last night. Fresno State not
the same without ElyBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comForget about counteracting the Bulldogs' amoeba defense, which most coaches will tell you is just a fancy name for a matchup zone, anyway. Plus, FSU came out in man-to-man.
The Rainbows won because they're hot and Melvin Ely couldn't play.
This game was over before it began. The NCAA helped decide the outcome earlier in the day when it said Ely was out.
There wasn't much hope for FSU without its best player. With UH at home, playing its best ball of the season, and on a high after last week's Rainbow Classic championship, any team on the wrong side of the Top 25 would need its full arsenal to give the Rainbows a game for 40 minutes.
Lacking Ely's four blocks and nine rebounds a game, the amoeba is more like a doughnut. On offense, FSU had to make up 19 points.
"The guy's a lottery pick," said UH's Carl English, who scored 22 points. "He blocks shots, changes shots. And he's smart."
Ely, one of the better big men in the country for two seasons now, sat out his sixth consecutive game due to receiving an improper benefit while he was pondering turning pro last spring.
Fresno State appealed to the NCAA to allow Ely to play last night, but was denied. Ely sat on the Bulldogs bench.
Still, early on, it was "Melvin who?"
His replacement, Hiram Fuller, a 6-foot-9 junior, looked like a lottery pick in the early going.
Fuller opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and blocked two layup attempts by Mark Campbell. Fuller's dunk and free throw at 14:17 tied the score at 11.
"I thought Hiram did a pretty good job in the first half, guarded them pretty good," said FSU coach Jerry Tarkanian, who declined to speculate on the outcome if Ely had played.
But he got in foul trouble, going to the bench after picking up his third with 9:15 left in the first half and UH leading 20-17. Fuller fouled out with 4:54 left in the game, after scoring 11 points and collecting seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs held close in the first half by beating the Rainbows in transition several times, but their turnovers and free-throw shooting woes caught up with them.
And Ely's absence allowed UH to attack the basket with abandon. Fuller and Mustafa Al-Sayyad were far less polished in denying position.
Also, FSU guard Chris Sandy made an inauspicious debut, scoring seven points on 2-of-10 shooting. He's a talent, and that's why Hawaii looked at him closely during recruiting time last year.
But, at least for this night, it looked like the Rainbows made the right choice in Campbell. He's not flashy but more often than not gets the job done at point guard. Each game he becomes more of a leader.
Campbell hit his first 3-pointer of the season with 1:16 left in the first half, making it 37-34, Hawaii. Fresno State never tied or led again. Meanwhile, Sandy went to the basket again and again, mostly coming up empty.
But FSU might have survived with Sandy's on-the-job training with Ely in the game.
When Hawaii beat Fresno State in the Western Athletic Conference tournament last spring, Ely was a non-factor with early foul trouble that benched him for much of the game. At the time, UH coach Riley Wallace said the Bulldogs aren't the same team without him.
That also held true last night.
"They're a good team without Ely, but they're a great one with him," Wallace said. "With Ely they're a top-15 team. But they can't take this away from us."
Bulldogs (8-5) Hawaii 83, Fresno St. 73
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Jefferies 7 13 6 11 39 9 1 21 Sandy 2 10 3 4 28 2 5 7 Felix 3 10 0 1 29 6 0 6 DeManby 3 7 2 2 30 3 1 9 Fuller 4 6 2 5 20 7 1 11 Mitchell 1 1 0 0 13 0 3 2 Jackson 5 7 0 0 16 2 0 13 Al-Sayaad 1 2 2 2 25 6 2 4 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 26 56 15 25 200 37 13 73 Warriors (10-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 7 17 7 7 35 6 2 23 Martin 5 8 0 0 24 4 0 10 Shimonovich 2 5 4 6 24 4 2 8 Campbell 2 7 2 2 33 6 2 7 English 8 12 1 4 36 6 5 22 McIntyre 0 4 1 2 15 0 4 1 Burneika 5 9 1 2 24 3 2 12 Jesinskis 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Vebobe 0 1 0 0 7 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 29 63 16 23 200 32 17 83 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. 34, Hawaii 37.
3-point goals--Fresno St. 6-19 (Jackson 3, Fuller, DeManby,Jefferies); Hawaii 9-21 (English 5, Savovic 2, Campbell, Burneika). Personal fouls--Fresno St. 20, Hawaii 18. Technical fouls--Fresno St. Jefferies. Steals-- 8 (Jefferies 3, Felix, DeManby, Fuller, Jackson, Al-Sayyad); Hawaii 7 (Shimonovich, Campbell, McIntyre, English). Blocked shots--Fresno St. 3 (Jefferies, Felix, Fuller); Hawaii 4 (Shimonovich 3, Martin ). Turnovers--Fresno St. 17 (Sandy 4, Jefferies 3, Felix 3, Al-Sayyad 3, Mitchell 2, Fuller, Jackson); Hawaii 11 (English 4, McIntyre 2, Burneika, Savovic, Martin, Shimonovich, Campbell). Officials--Barr, Welmer, Bosone. A--9,175.
UH Athletics