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Pack break Rainbows RENO, Nev. >> It was as painful a loss as Hawaii has had this season. And it could leave the Rainbows hurting for a while.
Nevada pushes Hawaii back
into second place by taking away
its crucial outside gameFrom staff and wire reports
Not only did Hawaii fail to clinch a share of the Western Athletic Conference championship last night against Nevada, the Rainbows spent most of the game without their senior All-America candidate. Senior guard Predrag Savovic was sidelined with lower back spasms early in the second half and could only watch as Hawaii fell to Nevada 79-69 at the Lawlor Events Center.
"There's nothing worse than a lower back pain," said Hawaii coach Riley Wallace, who has had back problems. "All he can do is rest it and we'll see how he is."
Without Savovic and his 21-point average, the Rainbows are not the same team. With or without him, they have little time to regroup or prepare for the season finale at Fresno State tomorrow (5 p.m. Hawaii time).
The Rainbows (23-5, 14-3) now can only share the WAC title and will need a win at Fresno to do it. Tulsa (24-5, 15-3) finished the regular season last night with a 67-62 win at Rice.
For just the fifth time this season, Hawaii found itself trailing at the half. For the first time, the Rainbows couldn't recover.
Down 35-29 at halftime, Hawaii closed to 43-38 on Mike McIntyre's 3-pointer with 15:50 to go. But the Wolf Pack hit two 3-pointers during a 10-3 run and enjoyed a double-digit lead until the final two minutes.
Carl English converted on a 3-point play to pull the Rainbows to 69-61 with 1:59 to go. Nevada (16-11, 9-8) didn't hit another field goal the rest of the way, but made 10 of 12 free throws to ice the game.
Phil Martin scored a season-high 19 points to lead the Rainbows, who snapped a modest three-game winning streak. English scored 16 before fouling out with 1:24 to go, and Haim Shimonovich had his third double-double of the year with 11 points and 12 rebounds.It wasn't enough to counter Nevada's Kirk Snyder (22 points), Terrance Green (14 points) and Corey Jackson (10 points, 17 rebounds). But the X factor was freshman forward Kevinn Pinkney, who came in with a 2.6-point average and finished with 12 points.
Most of Pinkney's points came on layups where Nevada won the battle down low. The Wolf Pack outscored the Rainbows 32-22 in the paint, the same 10-point difference as the winning margin.
"What disappoints me is they (Nevada) came out with superior quickness and our guys didn't make adjustments," said Wallace, whose Rainbows lost their second consecutive trip here. "Our inside guys played pretty well, but we didn't play well on the perimeter.
"I don't think our guys gave them enough credit. We knew they had improved greatly since we last played them."
In Honolulu on Dec. 29, Hawaii thrashed Nevada 58-40. Since replacing sophomore guard Andre Hazel with freshman forward Snyder last month, the Wolf Pack won three straight then lost their next two by a combined six points.
Nevada was ready for Hawaii, taking away the Rainbows' outside game. Hawaii had won all of its WAC games when sinking at least seven 3-pointers; last night, the Rainbows were 6 of 23 (26 percent).
"It just wasn't there," said senior forward Mindaugas Burneika, who finished with eight points. "We knew it was going to be a hard game, but I think we didn't prepare as well as we should have.
"They did whatever they wanted. Every game is a big game and we didn't play hard enough. We were not the same team as we have been and we broke down."
The deciding breakdown came early last night.
The Rainbows led 19-14 with nine minutes left in the first half. The Wolf Pack then went on an 18-0 run during the next six minutes, with Snyder scoring seven of his 11 first-half points, for a 32-19 lead.
Savovic's jumper with 3:10 left ended the drought, and a 3-pointer by McIntyre a minute later cut it to 32-24. A 3-pointer by Burneika with five seconds left ended the first-half scoring.
Hawaii opened the second half with two free throws by Shimonovich to close to 35-31. The Rainbows got beat on two quick transition baskets in the next 90 seconds and then came the 1-2 punch: English picked up his third foul on a questionable charge call and Savovic suffered a spasm during a fast break that forced him to the bench.
With their two leading scorers out, the Rainbows tried to stay with the Pack. Hawaii trailed 53-41 when English and Savovic returned.
Savovic lasted another four minutes before leaving for good. He finished with five points in 22 minutes, the first time he hasn't scored in double figures in 21 games this season. English fouled out some eight minutes later.
"Our guys haven't had many bad nights, but this was one where we didn't get it done," said Wallace.
Hawaii shot 38 percent from the floor (24 of 63). It was the Rainbows' largest margin of defeat this season; their previous four losses were by a combined 13 points.
RAINBOWS (23-5, 14-3 WAC) Nevada 79, Hawaii 69
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 2 7 0 0 22 4 1 5 Martin 8 14 3 4 31 7 1 19 Shimonovich 2 6 7 10 38 12 4 11 Campbell 1 2 0 0 33 1 7 2 English 6 16 3 4 26 7 0 16 McIntyre 2 8 2 5 25 2 2 8 Burneika 3 9 0 0 24 2 0 8 Jesinskis 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 24 63 15 23 200 38 16 69 WOLF PACK (16-11, 9-8 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Snyder 8 19 4 4 35 4 1 22 Green 3 12 5 6 37 4 3 14 Hill-Thomas 2 6 5 10 23 3 3 9 Jackson 5 7 0 1 23 17 0 10 Paul 1 4 2 4 15 2 1 4 Hazel 2 4 1 2 28 3 6 6 Pinkney 5 5 2 3 27 7 0 12 Ochs 0 1 2 2 12 1 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 26 58 21 32 200 45 14 79 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 -- Nevada 35, Hawaii 29.
3-point goals -- Nevada 6-14 (Green 3-8, Snyder 2-5, Hazel 1-1); Hawaii 6-23 (Savovic 1-5, McIntyre 2-6, Burneika 2-4, English 1-6, Campbell 0-1, Jesinskis 0-1). Personal fouls -- Nevada 18, Hawaii 23. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Nevada 6 (Hazel, Snyder, Green, Jackson, Pinkney); Hawaii 10 (Shimonovich 3, Martin 3, Burneika 2, English, Campbell). Blocked shots -- Nevada 1 (Snyder); Hawaii 3 (Shimonovich 2, McIntyre). Turnovers -- Nevada 12 (Green 4, Hazel 3, Jackson 2, Snyder, Hill-Thomas, Paul); Hawaii 11 (Shimonovich 3, Savovic 2, Campbell 2, English 2, Martin, McIntyre). Officials -- Bosone, Range, Harrington. A -- 6,748.
Men's WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L Tulsa 15 3 .833 -- 24 5 Hawaii 14 3 .824 1/2 23 5 La. Tech 13 4 .765 1 1/2 19 8 SMU 10 7 .588 4 1/2 15 12 Fresno St. 9 8 .529 5 1/2 18 12 Nevada 9 8 .529 5 1/2 16 11 Boise St. 5 12 .294 9 1/2 11 16 Rice 5 13 .278 10 10 18 UTEP 3 14 .176 11 1/2 10 20 San Jose St. 3 14 .176 11 1/2 8 21 Yesterday
Nevada 79, Hawaii 69
Tulsa 67, Rice 62
Louisiana Tech 80, Boise St. 67
SMU 63, UTEP 61
Fresno St. 72, San Jose St. 60
Tomorrow (All times HST)
Louisiana Tech at UTEP, 4 p.m.
SMU at Boise St., 4:30 p.m.
Hawaii at Fresno State, 5 p.m. (KFVE-TV)
San Jose St. at Nevada, 5 p.m.
UH Athletics