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Hawaii's Carl English, who was held to 16 points last night, battled with San Diego State's Evan Burns in San Diego. The Rainbows have not beaten a nonconference opponent on the road in more than 20 years.
’Bow road woes SAN DIEGO >> The San Diego State pep band started playing "Hawaii 5-0" in the waning minutes of last night's basketball game at Cox Arena.
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Hawaii has a hard time scoring
in a loss at San Diego StateBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comA more appropriate song would have been "Wipe Out."
The Aztecs (4-3) held Hawaii (2-1) to six points in the final 4:30 to pull away with a 60-49 victory in front of 6,138 fans. It was the second time in as many meetings that UH was beaten by SDSU, and it extended a more dubious streak: The Rainbows have not defeated a nonconference opponent on the road, other than at a neutral site, since 1980, a drought of 17 straight.
The key was the Aztecs' defensive pressure in the second half as they forced 12 turnovers, denying the ball inside and on the perimeter. UH junior guard Carl English, whose 12 points helped the Rainbows to a 22-22 halftime tie, didn't score a basket in the second half until there were 62 seconds remaining.
"They turned the defense up a notch and we didn't run our offense like we did in the first half," said English, who finished with team highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds. "They got right up into us and we hit a wall for a little while and we couldn't come back. You're going to have ups and downs in a game, but how you deal with them is whether you win or lose.
"None of us shot the ball well. We all need to get ready for Friday (Eastern Illinois). Coach (Riley Wallace) was calling things and we weren't executing."
And they weren't scoring. It was the first time Hawaii was held below 50 points since a 53-49 loss to Bowling Green on Nov. 21, 1999. It was also the first time that the Aztecs held a Division I opponent other than Air Force below 50 points since an 80-47 victory over Cal State Northridge in 1996.
"It was a good win for us because, trust me when I tell you that Hawaii is (an NCAA) tournament team," said Aztec coach Steve Fisher, whose team is off to its best start in six years. "It was a significant win for us and by far the best defensive effort of the season.
"We did a good job of not allowing them to get into their set plays. Our game plan was to not let them see cutters, not let them get comfortable to get their set looks.
"We felt English was the heart of that team. He's willed that team to success and we wanted to make sure that we did not allow that to happen. We wanted to make everything a struggle not only for him but for everyone."
Hawaii struggled, especially in the last 10 minutes of the game. It was 36-36 and then it was over as SDSU used an 11-4 run to seize the momentum.
Jason Carter's 3-pointer pulled UH within 49-43 with 4:43 to go, but the Aztecs hit 10 consecutive free throws to put it away. SDSU, which did not go to the line in the first half, was 13 of 19 from the line in the second half; UH was 5-for-6 after intermission, 9-for-13 for the game.
"It was ridiculous that we had no free throws in the first half," said Aztec guard Tony Bland, finishing with a game-high 19 points. "We needed to be more aggressive in the second half and we were."
Said Aztec center Mike Mackell, who added 15 points: "Last year when we went to Hawaii, we were real aggressive. We wanted to carry that over to this game and put pressure on the ball."
The Aztecs also took away the Rainbows' transition game while capitalizing on UH's season-high 21 turnovers for their own transition baskets.
"We've got to think about all those turnovers," said UH junior forward Phil Martin, who added 14 points, including his first 3-pointer of the season. "Coach said we need to keep it down to 9-12 turnovers to get a win on the road.
"Our big guys, including me, turned it over too much. And we need Haim (Shimonovich) to score. He's our key."
Shimonovich, averaging 18 points coming into the game, was scoreless, as were two other Hawaii starters: Mark Campbell and Vaidotas Peciukas.
"They were the ones putting all the pressure on in the second half," Wallace said. "Our big men, Haim, Phil and Tony (Akpan), had 14 of our 21 turnovers because their wing people were in their face.
"It hurts us when Haim doesn't score. It's what was missing that we had in our first two ballgames. He got five looks and went 0-for-5. This film (of the game) is going to go out all over the country, so we'll continue to see pressure. And we've got to get better at handling the pressure."
English had 12 points and eight rebounds at intermission, with all three of his field goals coming from 3-point range. English hit UH's first shot 53 seconds into the game to put the Rainbows up 3-2.
UH didn't score again for nearly six minutes, when Martin's baseline jumper pulled the Rainbows to 11-5. They traded cold spurts for most of the half.
The Aztecs led by as much as 17-9 with 8:07, but SDSU couldn't buy a basket, missing the next 10 shots as the Rainbows rallied. Hawaii hit three consecutive 3-pointers to take its biggest lead of the half at 22-17 with 3:04 to go.
The Rainbows hit a second lull, missing their last four shots. The Aztecs hit their final two, including Steve Sir's 3-pointer with 28 seconds left to tie it at 22.
Rebounding kept the Rainbows in the game for the first 20 minutes as they took a 25-15 edge. They had the same 10-board advantage at the end, 38-28.
Notes: The last win on the road over a nonconference opponent came on Jan. 14, 1980, here in San Diego against U.S. International. The coach at that time was Larry Little, who drove down from his home in Las Vegas to watch last night's game. Also driving down from Las Vegas was Erika Nash, daughter of UH associate head coach Bob Nash, who just finished her first season as the assistant coach for the UNLV women's volleyball team. ... Visiting with the Rainbows before the game was former UH player John Gabriel (1985-89). Gabriel, who played professionally in Europe and Japan, lives in nearby Del Mar. He was voted the team's most valuable player in 1989.
San Diego St. 60, Hawaii 49
RAINBOWS (2-1) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 5 7 3 4 28 4 1 14 Peciukas 0 2 0 0 8 7 0 0 Shimonovich 0 5 0 0 27 0 1 0 Campbell 0 3 0 0 30 3 3 0 English 4 15 5 7 39 12 2 16 Carter 4 8 0 1 15 0 1 10 Kuebler 2 7 1 1 29 4 2 5 Akpan 2 3 0 0 24 7 3 4 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 17 50 9 13 200 38 13 49 AZTECS (4-3) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Sanders 1 2 0 0 31 9 3 2 Mackell 6 16 3 4 31 8 1 15 Johnson 3 5 0 0 21 0 0 6 Moore 2 4 2 2 32 1 5 7 Bland 6 8 6 9 35 2 1 19 Hanour 1 4 2 4 16 2 2 4 Sir 2 2 0 0 9 1 1 5 Sharper 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Davis 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Burns 0 4 0 0 14 3 0 0 Manker 1 4 0 0 8 2 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 22 49 13 19 200 28 13 60 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 22, San Diego St. 22.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 6-15 (English 3-7, Carter 2-5, Martin 1-1, Peciukas 0-1, Campbell 0-1); San Diego St. 3-7 (Hanour 0-2, Bland 1-1, Moore 1-1, Sir 1-1, Johnson 0-1, Manker 0-1). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 19, San Diego St. 17. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Hawaii 2 (English, Kuebler); San Diego St. 9 (Moore 3, Burns 2, Mackell, Johnson, Bland, Sir). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 2 (Shimonovich, Akpan); San Diego St. 4 (Sanders, Mackell, Hanour, Burns). Turnovers -- Hawaii 21 (Martin 5, Shimonovich 5, English 5, Akpan 4, Campbell, Carter); San Diego St. 12 (Bland 4, Mackell 2, Moore 2, Hanour 2, Sanders, Burns). Officials -- Dan Chrisman, Jim Danner, Shawn Lehigh. Tickets issued -- 6,138.
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