Sunday, February 17, 2002
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’Bows blow There was no overtime.
out Spartans
Hawaii puts it all together to
avenge one of its 4 lossesBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThere was no second-half slump.
Last night, there was never any doubt.
The Hawaii basketball team avenged its worst loss of the season with one of its best overall performances. Led by Carl English's season-high 23 points, the Rainbows (21-4, 12-2 Western Athletic Conference) shut down San Jose State 71-46 in front of 7,676 (8,921 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It was Hawaii's 10th consecutive conference home victory -- 14th straight dating back to last year -- and it kept the Rainbows a half-game behind WAC leader Tulsa (22-4, 13-2). The Golden Hurricane, who defeated Louisiana Tech 72-63 last night, come to town for a title showdown Thursday.
"Thursday's going to be big," said Riley Wallace, whose team topped the Golden Hurricane 90-82 in Tulsa last month.
"We'll need to play a team game against Tulsa like we did tonight," said English. "When we're clicking on all cylinders like we did tonight, we're tough to beat."
"Our focus was on defense," said Mike McIntyre, who added 17 points, nine in the second half. "I knew that we were doing something special when they had only 10 points and we had close to 30."
Last month in San Jose, the Spartans held the Rainbows to a season-low 53 points. Hawaii had that with 11:10 left in the game as English's 3-pointer put UH ahead 52-27.
A 3-pointer and a layup by Predrag Savovic and two free throws by McIntyre gave the Rainbows their biggest lead at 59-29 with 7:56 to go. The Spartans got as close as 23 twice, the last at 62-39, before the Rainbows went on a 9-2 run to put the margin back to 30.
Only five late points by Bim Okunrinboye prevented Hawaii from its lowest defensive total of the season (44 in the win over Georgia). Still, the 46 points was a season low for the Spartans.
"You're talking about a very, very polished team, a team close to being a Top-25 team in Hawaii," said San Jose State coach Steve Barnes. "You have to give them a lot of credit for their defense, they pushed our guys way out from their normal shooting spots.
"We got here early (Wednesday night) and I assumed we wouldn't get caught up with what a lot of teams get caught up in with being in Hawaii. I assumed wrong."
In one of their strongest defensive first halves of the year, the Rainbows held the Spartans to just five field goals, their fewest in a half this season. The last basket, by Marion Thurmond, pulled San Jose State to within 16-10 with 9:51 before intermission.
The Spartans didn't score for nearly six minutes, while the Rainbows went on a 16-0 run, highlighted by four 3-pointers. Two of the treys came with one second remaining on the shot clock, the second launched by Mike McIntyre from somewhere near Moiliili, giving Hawaii a 35-11 lead with 3:27 to go.
The only successful shooting San Jose State did in the final 4:07 was from the free-throw line, where the Spartans hit 7 of 10 attempts. Junior guard Brandon Hawkins, missing his first start of the year after being late, sank 6 of 8 to help his team close to 35-17.
It was the fewest points in a half by the Spartans since their 78-54 loss at Tulsa last month.
San Jose State's field-goal drought continued through the opening minutes of the second half. Thurmond's putback at the 17:09 mark was the team's first basket in 12:42.
"When we played at San Jose, we had a lot of guys in foul trouble," said McIntyre, 0-for-4 from 3-point range against the Spartans last month but 3 of 9 last night. "That was a focal point this week in practice. Coach (Riley Wallace) made a point about keeping the fouls down.
"And the scout team was great in practice all week, helped us prepare well again."
The biggest defensive focus this week was on stopping senior forward David Granucci, who had a career-high 17 points against Hawaii on Jan 19. Last night, a frustrated Granucci took just two shots -- none in the first half -- finally scoring his only basket with 13:04 left in the game.
"Phil (Martin) was on him tonight and he did a good job again," said English.
"I think the best thing was that defense led to scoring," added McIntyre.
Hawaii had 10 steals, four by Savovic. The senior guard also had 14 points, the first time in six games that he was not the leading scorer.
The Rainbows were 9-for-21 from 3-point range. For the 12th time in 12 WAC wins, Hawaii hit at least seven 3-pointers.
Thurmond was the only Spartan in double figures with 12. Hawkins, the team's leading scorer with a 15.4-point average, was held to the six first-half free throws.
The last two times San Jose State visited the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawaii needed overtime to pull out a win. Last night, it wasn't even close.
WAC STANDINGS
WAC games Overall W L PCT GB W L PCT Tulsa 13 2 .867 -- 22 4 .846 Hawaii 12 2 .857 12 21 4 .840 La. Tech 10 4 .714 212 16 8 .667 SMU 8 6 .571 412 13 11 .542 Fresno St. 7 7 .500 512 16 11 .593 Nevada 8 6 .571 412 15 9 .625 Rice 4 11 .267 9 9 16 .360 Boise St. 4 11 .267 9 10 15 .667 San Jose St. 3 11 .214 912 8 18 .308 UTEP 3 12 .200 10 9 18 .333 Yesterday
SMU 63, Rice 61
Tulsa 72, Louisiana Tech 63
Nevada 80, UTEP 65
Boise St. 61, Fresno St. 58
Hawaii 71, San Jose St. 46
SPARTANS (8-18, 3-11) Hawaii 71, San Jose State 46
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Granucci 1 2 0 0 33 4 2 2 Valentine 1 7 0 0 23 5 0 2 Davis 1 4 0 0 32 4 1 2 Calvert 4 12 1 3 27 2 2 9 Thurmond 5 11 2 2 32 5 0 12 Alvarez 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Black 2 5 0 0 17 0 1 6 Hawkins 0 1 6 8 21 1 1 6 Okunrinboye 2 3 0 1 1 0 0 5 Guilbeaux 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Jenkins 1 2 0 1 11 1 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 17 47 9 15 200 46 7 46 RAINBOWS (21-4, 12-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 5 8 2 2 34 5 4 14 Martin 3 5 1 3 23 4 0 7 Shimonovich 2 3 3 4 24 5 2 7 Campbell 0 1 0 0 25 2 3 0 English 9 13 2 4 27 1 2 23 McIntyre 6 13 2 2 25 3 2 17 Lombard 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Takaki 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Burneika 1 4 0 0 17 2 0 3 Holliday 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 Pickart 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Jesinskis 0 1 0 0 9 1 0 0 Akpan 0 1 0 0 6 2 1 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 26 50 10 16 200 31 15 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 -- Hawaii 35, San Jose 17.
3-point goals--Hawaii 9-21 (English 3-5, McIntyre 3-9, Savovic 2-5, Burneika 1-1, Jesinskis 0-1); San Jose 3-13 (Black 2-4, Okunrinboye 1-2, Calvert 0-6, Valentine 0-1). Personal fouls--Hawaii 20, San Jose 18. Technical fouls--none. Steals--Hawaii 10 (Shimonovich 2, Campbell 2, English 2, McIntyre 2, Savovic, Akpan); San Jose 3 (Granucci, Black, Okunrinboye). Blocked shots--Hawaii 4 (Shimonovich 4); San Jose 1 (Black). Turnovers--Hawaii 16 (Savovic 4, McIntyre 3, English 2, Campbell 2, Takaki 2, Pickart, Jesinskis, Martin); San Jose 19 (Davis 4, Valentine 3, Calvert 3, Thurmond 3, Hawkins 3, Guilbeaux 2, Granucci). Officials--Ditty, Sorenson, Barr. A--8,921.
UH Athletics