RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Phil Martin went up for a shot against Louisiana Tech last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Martin had 19 points as Hawaii improved to 3-1 in the WAC.
Hawaii passes When the Hawaii basketball team's shooting touch went cold last night, the Rainbows turned up the heat on defense to survive a stern test from Louisiana Tech and escape with a 57-53 victory in a Western Athletic Conference game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Tech’s rugged test,
57-53
But more Bulldogs are ahead
Martin made Meeking work
for the 'Bows, who play Fresno next
'Bows put the pain in the paint
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com"Tonight was the biggest test on defense for us this season," Hawaii forward Phil Martin said. "Coach told us that was going to win the game for us."
A crowd of 6,348 watched both teams struggle from the field, as Hawaii made just 39 percent of its field-goal attempts but held LaTech to 33 percent and extended its home winning streak to 21 games.
UH guard Carl English made just six of 20 field-goal attempts, but led Hawaii with 25 points, all but four coming in the second half, and grabbed 12 rebounds. Martin scored 14 points in the first half and finished with 19.
LaTech forward Antonio Meeking led the Bulldogs in the post with a rugged 23-point, 12-rebound performance, but was harassed by Martin all night.
"Meeking got his points ... but Phil made him work for everything he got tonight," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said.
Hawaii improved to 10-2 overall and 3-1 in the WAC to leapfrog LaTech (5-5, 2-1) in the conference standings.
But Hawaii will have little time to enjoy the win as conference frontrunner Fresno State comes to town tomorrow night. The Bulldogs defeated UTEP 84-58 yesterday to remain atop the conference at 4-0.
Free-throw shooting was a key for Hawaii last night as the Rainbows made 18 of 27 shots from the line. LaTech attempted just 10 free throws, making five, all by Meeking.
"I'm sure they're going to leave and think they got some bad calls, but it was going both ways tonight," English said. "But they're keeping it tight, so that makes it fair."
Said Wallace: "We penetrate, we attack the basket and force them into a lot of the fouls."
LaTech coach Keith Richard wasn't nearly was satisfied with the officiating job, but credited his players for battling the Rainbows and keeping the game at a tempo the Bulldogs preferred.
"All our kids played hard, played extremely hard," Richard said.
Martin heated up a cold first half for both teams by scoring 14 points, including the Rainbows' last 11 points before halftime to give the Rainbows a 24-21 lead.
UH shot just 35 percent (8-for-23) in the first half, but LaTech was worse at 26 percent (9-for-35).
Hawaii made just three of its first 13 field-goal attempts and missed its first six shots beyond the 3-point line.
LaTech took a 16-7 lead at the 9:15 mark of the first half on Zach Johnson's tip-in off a missed 3-pointer by Meeking.
But Martin hit four straight shots and tied the game at 21 on a short jumper with 1:58 left in the half. He then made a layup while being fouled to give the Rainbows the lead.
"He carried us," Wallace said. "The defense kept us in the game and then he picked us up and got us the lead."
Martin continued his hot shooting in the second half, finishing a fast break with a dunk and dropping in a hook shot over Meeking to match his previous season-high of 19 points with 16:54 left in the game.
English, who was held to four points in the first half on 1-of-8 shooting, scored on a lob from Michael Kuebler early in the half and hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give UH a 44-37 lead with 11:26 left.
"My job is to shoot it if I'm open," English said. "That's the mentality I have to keep. And when it's not falling I tend to get to the line more and do other things."
"He has that burning desire to win," Wallace said. "He'll do something every night to try to win a basketball game. ... He just knows how to win, he knows how not to give up, ever."
But Meeking continued to pound the Rainbows inside and cut the UH lead to 52-51 with 3:28 left in the game by hitting a jumper and a free throw.
After the Rainbows reclaimed a four-point advantage, LaTech closed again to 55-53 on two free throws by Meeking with 42.4 seconds left. But Hawaii worked the clock down and put the game away when center Haim Shimonovich scored on a layup off an assist from Kuebler with seven seconds left.
"We called something else, but it didn't work," Wallace said. "But (Shimonovich) moved without the ball and made the play."
UH guard Mark Campbell didn't attempt a shot last night, but dished out eight assists while committing just one turnover.
"People don't understand how valuable he is to this team," English said. "I want him to look to score more, but he's leading the WAC in assists and if he keeps doing that I don't care if he don't ever score."
Key - fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points. WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Fresno St. 4 0 1.000 11 2 Louisiana Tech 2 1 .666 5 5 Hawaii 3 1 .750 10 2 Boise St. 2 2 .500 8 6 Rice 1 2 .333 9 4 Tulsa 2 1 .666 9 3 Nevada 2 2 .500 7 7 UTEP 1 3 .250 3 10 SMU 1 2 .333 6 7 San Jose St. 0 4 .000 3 10 Yesterday
Hawaii 57, Louisiana Tech 53
Tulsa 94, Rice 77
Fresno St. 84, UTEP 58
SMU 79, San Jose St. 72
Nevada 71, Boise St.
Hawaii 57, Louisiana Tech 53BULLDOGS (5-5, 2-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Felton 5 14 0 0 40 6 2 11 Powell 2 3 0 0 19 6 0 4 Wilder 1 8 0 0 21 1 3 2 Brown 2 8 0 0 27 7 0 6 Meeking 9 21 5 8 40 12 1 23 Woods 1 5 0 0 23 0 1 3 Edwards 1 3 0 0 9 1 1 2 Johnson 1 5 0 2 21 6 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 Totals 22 67 5 10 200 41 8 53 RAINBOWS (10-2, 3-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 8 12 3 5 35 5 0 19 Shimonovich 3 7 2 4 36 10 2 8 Campbell 0 0 0 1 40 5 8 0 English 6 20 10 13 40 12 1 25 Kuebler 1 6 2 2 36 2 4 4 Zivanovic 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Peciukas 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Akpan 0 1 1 2 8 3 1 1 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 18 46 18 27 200 39 16 57
Halftime - Hawaii 24, Lousiana Tech 21.
3-point goals - Lousiana Tech 4-17 (Brown 2-6, Felton 1-5, Woods 1-4, Wilder 0-2); Hawaii 3-15 (English 3-12, Kuebler 0-3). Personal fouls - Lousiana Tech 22, Hawaii 15. Steals - Lousiana Tech 1 (Powell); Hawaii 2 (Campbell, English). Blocked shots - Lousiana Tech 2 (Meeking 2); Hawaii 5 (Shimonovich 4, Martin). Turnovers - Lousiana Tech 7 (Powell 2, Brown 2, Woods, Edwards, Johnson); Hawaii 11 (Shimonovich 4, English 4, Martin, Campbell, TEAM). Officials - Jim Bannowsky, Brian Sorenson, Craig Peterson. A - 7,706.
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