RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Haim Shimonovich, left, got mugged under the basket by Louisiana Tech's Zach Johnson during the first half last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawaii's Carl English, above, drove past Louisiana Tech's Bruce Edwards during the second half. English scored a game-high 25 points and chipped in 12 rebounds.
Call it a defensive struggle. Or just call it a struggle. Martin made
Meeking work
Hawaii passes Tech's rugged test
'Bows put the pain in the paint
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comScoring didn't come easy for either team last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. There was one notable exception: Hawaii's Phil Martin, whose strong first-half performance set up the Rainbows' 21st straight win at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The junior forward was true to his nickname "Smooth" in tying his season high with 19 points in the Rainbows' 57-53 Western Athletic Conference victory over Louisiana Tech. Martin also did an outstanding job blocking out the Bulldogs' all-conference senior, Antonio Meeking, despite giving up 30-plus pounds to the conference's leading rebounder.
Meeking got his points - 23 - and his second double-double in three games (12 rebounds). But "Phil made him work for everything he got," said Rainbow coach Riley Wallace.
"The game was won on the defensive side tonight," Wallace added. "When we couldn't score our defense kept us in it. They (Louisiana Tech) could have pulled away early, but Phil got the offense going."
Martin had a combined nine points in the two games against LaTech last season. He had 14 by halftime last night, including 11 of Hawaii's last 13 points, as the Rainbows took a 24-21 lead into the locker room.
Martin tied his career best in field goals with eight. He had six of UH's eight first-half field goals and eight of the team's 18 for the night.
"Coach told us defense would win the game," said Martin. "I'm probably more proud of my defense than my offense. Defense was my main emphasis tonight.
"It was very physical inside. Meeking is like a half-Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal of the Lakers). You can't fight his upper body, but I was able to get my lower body in on him, tried to make him work for everything. You can't be scared of playing a guy like that."
Fellow Canadian Carl English credited Martin with keeping the Rainbows in the game in the first half. English had just four first-half points, going 1-for-8 from the field, but the junior guard heated up in the second, finishing with a game-high 25 points.
"Phil came out and set the tone," said English, turning in his second double-double of the season with a career-high-tying 12 rebounds. "My shots weren't dropping and we needed some offense from somewhere else. Phil came in, got hot for a while.
"But we won it with defense. And if we can keep playing this same type of game, we'll keep winning at home."
English said there was some pressure to keep the home winning streak alive. The Rainbows put it on the line tomorrow against WAC unbeaten Fresno State (11-2, 4-0).
"ESPN.com picked us to lose tonight," English said. "It's a streak, but it's a positive one. It's a great streak to have.
"We have a lot of weapons. We have an inside game and an outside game. Just wait for us to be clicking on all cylinders."
Wallace said he was happy with the rebounding performance, despite losing the board battle 41-39.
"They're a better rebounding team than we are," said Wallace. "For us to be that close means we're doing a good job.
"You've got to give Phil a lot of credit tonight. He played really, really bad at Boise State (last Saturday) but he's come back to play solid the past two games. In our offense, anyone who is open can take a shot. (The Bulldogs) didn't seem to be too concerned with him. Our guys were able to find him and he had that feel. He carried us."
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