GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH's Michael Kuebler scored on this layup last night as Bradley's Marcelo Robinson looked on.
Hawaii opens Classic At Thursday night's Rainbow Classic banquet, the jokes were about how well college basketball coaches lied. There was nothing said about misleading scouting reports.
with win over Bradley
Akpan a surprise scorer as the Rainbows
Akpan's outburst propels Rainbows
beat the Braves in a first-round game
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comBradley coach Jim Les knew all about the explosive scoring of Hawaii's Carl English, the hot hand Michael Kuebler has had of late and the inside dominance of Haim Shimonovich.
Nobody told Les about Nkeruwem Akpan. The 6-foot-8 sophomore hit his first 10 shots en route to a career-high 25 points -- 17 better than his previous best -- as the Rainbows blew away the Braves 90-69 in the second game of the 39th Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic's opening night.
"He had a great game," said Les, the former Bradley star. "He's a big body and he played with a lot of confidence."
A crowd of 5,584 saw Hawaii (5-1) run its Stan Sheriff Center streak to 17 wins while advancing to tomorrow's semifinal against Tennessee Tech. In yesterday's opener, Tennessee Tech (6-4) used a game-high 15 points from senior guard Brent Jolly in pulling away from Alcorn State 62-50.
Alcorn State (1-8) opens tomorrow's consolation bracket play against Bradley (2-7) at 11 a.m.
In today's games, Butler (8-0) takes on Texas-Pan American (4-8) at 5 p.m., followed by Western Kentucky (5-4) against Chicago State (2-6) at 7:30 p.m.
"It was by far our best game of the year, our most complete game," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "Akpan is a big, strong body and his best basketball is still ahead of him. It was also probably Carl's most complete game. He stayed within the offense, got his points.
"Haim (Shimonovich) and Tony are quite a load for anyone to handle. For us to get 19 offensive rebounds was big. And we were unselfish tonight. Mark (Campbell) had eight assists and Haim and Carl five each. It was a good win."
Les has seen his team lose every way possible this season, including four straight by a combined 12 points. At least the Braves didn't keep their first-year head coach in suspense for long last night against the Rainbows.
Danny Granger gave Bradley a 2-0 lead 24 seconds into the game, but it would be the Braves' last lead. Hawaii scored the next seven, including five by English, to take control and advance to the championship bracket.
Thanks to a 9-1 rebounding edge and a 10-3 run in which Akpan scored six points, the Rainbows opened their biggest lead of the first half, 19-10. The Braves got more physical over the next three minutes -- grabbing six boards to none by the Rainbows -- to muscle their way to within 22-20.
Granger hit all three of shots during that streak but when he went cold, so did Bradley. Two 3-pointers by reserve guard Jason Carter helped re-energize Hawaii, with his treys bookending a 12-2 run that put the Rainbows ahead 34-22 with 6:10 to go.
Bradley was losing 41-33 at half then lost its leading scorer in the first 30 seconds. After blocking English, Granger butted heads with teammate Michael Stewart, staggered on the court and was diagnosed with a low-grade concussion.
The Braves got as close as 10 late (57-47) but Akpan scored the Rainbows' next five points as they pulled away to a 62-49 lead with 9:13 left. The only suspense left was when/if Akpan would miss a field-goal attempt; it came with less than eight minutes to go on a layup attempt.
Akpan finished 11-for-13 from the floor. His 10 straight baskets were two off the UH-record of 12 straight made by Aaron Strayhorn against UNLV in 1981.
Shimonovich finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. English had 19 points, his sixth straight double-figure game.
For Bradley, James Gillingham had a team-high 22. Granger added 19 and Phillip Gilbert 10.
"I didn't even know how many points I had until I left for the bench," Akpan said. "I don't keep track. I just play."
Hawaii's 26-4 edge in second-chance points was a key to the win. The Rainbows finished with a 42-22 advantage in rebounds.
Tennessee Tech 62, Alcorn State 50: Last week, the Golden Eagles ran their home-court winning streak to 33, second longest in the nation. Last night, Tech continued playing well as the "home" team in handing the Braves their sixth straight loss.
As Tech coach Mike Sutton said, it wasn't pretty but it was a win. The teams combined for 49 turnovers, 30 in the first half, and the Golden Eagles were outrebounded 49-33.
"It was a typical first game you see sometimes when teams travel and have a bit of a layoff," the first-year coach said. "It was a very sloppy game. We didn't do a very good job on the backboards. We'll need to play a lot better in the next game.
"Hawaii is a good team, and very good at home. We'll have to play a lot better than we did tonight to have a chance."
The Golden Eagles used several runs during the first half en route to 32-24 cushion at intermission. Damien Kinloch scored eight of his 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Tech opened the second half with a 13-5 run in the first six minutes only to see Alcorn State rally. The Braves, behind seven unanswered points from Tori Harris to close to 48-42 with 8:40 remaining.
But Alcorn State, plagued by cold shooting (20-for-77 from the floor), got no closer. Harris (15) and Rhau-Chavis Landfair (10) led the Braves.
BRAVES (2-7) Hawaii 90, Bradley 69
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Roginson 1 4 0 0 26 2 4 2 Gillingham 8 14 4 6 33 2 3 22 Granger 8 14 2 2 22 4 0 19 Gilbert 4 9 2 3 32 2 0 10 Stewart 2 5 0 2 23 2 1 4 Mroz 0 0 1 2 7 1 1 1 Paul 0 0 1 2 20 2 1 1 Sunley 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 Suggs 1 1 0 1 21 2 0 2 Battle 3 4 0 0 14 2 1 6 Totals 28 52 10 18 200 22 10 69 RAINBOWS (5-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 4 10 1 3 20 6 1 9 Shimonovich 7 13 6 6 31 9 5 20 Campbell 1 2 1 2 30 1 8 3 English 8 16 0 0 29 7 5 19 Kuebler 1 4 0 0 29 4 4 2 Takaki 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Zivanovic 0 0 2 2 3 1 0 2 Carter 2 9 0 0 17 1 0 6 Peciukas 1 2 0 0 10 2 0 2 Holliday 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 Pickart 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Akpan 11 13 3 6 26 8 1 25 Totals 36 70 13 19 200 42 24 90 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 41, Bradley 33.
3-point goals--Bradley 3-13 (Gillingham 2, Granger), Hawaii 5-18 (English 3, Carter 2). Personal fouls--Bradley, team. Steals--Bradley 8 (Battle 3, Gillingham 2, Gilbert 2, Stewart), Hawaii 9 (Shimonovich 2, Kuebler 2, Carter 2, Campbell, English, Akpan). Blocked shots--Bradley 3 (Granger 2, Gilbert), Hawaii 3 (Shimonovich 2, Akpan). Turnovers--Bradley 20 (Robinson 5, Gillingham 4, Gilbert 4, Paul 2, Suggs 2, Battle, Mroz, Granger), Hawaii 19 (Akpan 6, Carter 5, Kuebler 2, Peciukas 2, Martin, Shimonovich, Campbell, English).
Tickets issued--7,366.
UH Athletics
