DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Carl English went for a basket in front of Arkansas-Little Rock's Richard Hardman.
Rainbows easily The quickness on defense was a concern.
win season opener
Shimonovich leads Hawaii past
Game stats
Arkansas-Little Rock
Rainbow notebook
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe outside shooting was a question mark.
Getting the ball inside had been a focus of this week's practice.
If there were doubts about the Hawaii basketball team, they were put to rest in the first 20 minutes of last night's second game of the Hawaiian Airlines Tip-Off Tournament. The Rainbows more than matched Arkansas-Little Rock up-tempo offense, found a new 3-point hero in junior newcomer Michael Kuebler and saw junior center Haim Shimonovich establish his 6-foot-10 presence early with 15 first-half points.
In front of a crowd of 6,823, Hawaii easily shook off opening-night jitters and a physical ALR team 81-65 to run its Stan Sheriff Center winning streak to 13. The Rainbows have not lost at home since last Dec. 14 against San Diego State.
Hawaii (1-0) will face another up-tempo team in tomorrow's 7 p.m. final -- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-0). The Islanders won yesterday's first game, running their winning streak to six games dating back to last season in beating Cal State Fullerton 83-76.
Fullerton and Little Rock meet at 5 p.m. tomorrow for the consolation title.
"I think intensity was important," said junior guard Carl English, scoring 10 of his 15 points to carry the team in the second half. "Last week, it was an exhibition game and we came out too relaxed. We answered the call and came out, played well as a team.
"We played a lot of players tonight. It gives these new guys a chance to get in and get better. We got up for the challenge tonight."
Hawaii trailed just once, at 0-1. A basket by Shimonovich put the Rainbows up for good less than three minutes into the game.
Hawaii led 44-28 at half and by as many as 22 midway through the second half. At 70-48, the Trojans used a 10-0 run -- including two consecutive 3-pointers -- to pull to 70-58 with 4:42 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Jibrahn Ike brought the visitors to within 74-63 with 2:30 to go, but Little Rock could get no closer. The biggest disappointment was when 5-4 senior guard Lance Takaki was unable to get into the game, sitting out the final 35 seconds at the scorer's table.
Shimonovich finished with 18 points, playing just eight minutes in the second half. Kuebler added 17, including hitting 3 of 6 from 3-point range.
Overall, Hawaii coach Riley Wallace was pleased.
"We've had 33 practices and it's hard to be fired up all the time," said Wallace. "What's good is we found a way to win without Carl scoring 25 points. There was a lot of balance."
For the Trojans, Ike was the lone player in double figures with 15. Hawaii got outrebounded 36-33, but had 21 assists to ALR's 8.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 83, Cal State Fullerton 76: Junior guard Travis Bailey scored eight of the Islanders' first 12 points after halftime to help his team pull away from the Titans (0-1).
TAMCC is now 4-0 in season openers; the program began in 1999-2000. One of eight independents at the NCAA Division I level, this is the first year TAMCC is eligible for postseason play after three years of provisional membership.
Junior guard Brian Evans led the Islanders with 24 points, hitting three free throws in the final 41.8 seconds to help ice the win. Also in double figures for TAMCC were Bailey (22), Corey Lamkin (12) and Derrick Murphy (10).
"We treat every game as a conference game," said Islanders coach Ronnie Arrow. "This being our first year to qualify, we're looking at needing to win around 24 games. Every game counts.
"This was good for us, being able to win on the road, beat a quality team from a quality conference. We're looking forward to playing in the finals (tomorrow)."
The Islanders led 44-34 at halftime and expanded it by as many as 16 points midway through the half (65-49). Fullerton wouldn't go away, closing to within two at 78-76 with 64 seconds left.
The Titans didn't score again as the Islanders sank 5 of 6 free throws to close it out.
"We love to fastbreak," said Evans. "We're a run-and-gun kind of team but defense is our motto. We'll be ready for Sunday."
The Titans had four players in double figures, led by Ralphy Holmes with 17. Anthony Bolton added 15, Derick Andrew 13 and Pape Sow 12.
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Key -- fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points. Hawaii 81, Arkansas-Little Rock 65
RAINBOWS (1-0, 0-0) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 4 7 0 2 16 1 0 8 Shimonovich 5 8 8 13 25 8 3 18 Campbell 3 4 0 2 29 3 5 7 Peciukas 2 3 0 1 17 2 4 4 English 6 14 1 2 34 3 2 15 Alama-Francis 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Zivanovic 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 Carter 2 5 2 2 15 3 2 8 Kuebler 5 12 4 6 30 4 3 17 Akpan 2 6 0 0 30 5 2 4 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 29 59 15 28 200 33 21 81
ARIZONA-LITTLE ROCK (0-1, 0-0) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Travis 0 1 2 2 27 3 4 2 Ike 5 13 3 4 28 1 1 15 Green 3 10 3 4 28 5 1 9 McCall 4 7 1 2 25 5 0 9 Yancey 1 1 5 6 16 7 0 7 Willis 1 2 2 3 15 2 1 4 Muurinen 1 1 0 0 7 2 0 3 Jacobs 2 3 0 0 8 3 0 4 Stuckey 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Zachery 1 10 0 0 21 1 1 2 Hardman 1 2 0 0 8 1 0 2 Eason 4 6 0 0 16 4 0 8 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 23 56 16 21 200 36 8 65
Halftime -- Hawaii 44, Arizona-Little Rock 28.
3-point goals--Hawaii 8-18 (Kuebler 3-6, Carter 2-4, English 2-4, Campbell 1-2, Peciukas 0-1), Arizona-Little Rock 3-15 (Green 2-6, Muurinen 1-1, McCall 0-4, Zachery 0-4). Personal fouls--Hawaii 21, Arizona-Little Rock 26. Technical fouls--none. Steals--Hawaii 6 (Campbell 2, Shimonovich, Peciukas, Kuebler, Akpan); Arizona-Little Rock 6 (Travis, Ike, McCall, Muurinen, Zachery, Hardman). Blocked shots--Hawaii 4 (Kuebler 2, Akpan 2); Arizona-Little Rock 0. Turnovers--Hawaii 11 (Carter 3, Kuebler 2, English 2, Shimonovich, Campbell, Peciukas, Alama-Francis); Arizona-Little Rock 17 (McCall 4, Jacobs 3, Eason 2, Zachery 2, Green 2, Travis, Ike, Yancey, Willis). Officials--White, Stith, Tanibe. A--6,823.
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