ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisiana Tech's Corey Dean went up over Hawaii's Nkeruwem Akpan yesterday in Ruston, La. The Bulldogs beat the Rainbows 66-65, dropping Hawaii's road record to 1-6 this season.
Hawaii in foul mood RUSTON, La. >> After Hawaii edged Louisiana Tech last month in Honolulu, Tech coach Keith Richard left the islands fuming over the imbalance in the number of fouls called between the teams.
after road loss
The 'Bows drop their second
road game by one point to
fall to 1-6 away from HonoluluFrom staff and wire reports
Last night in Ruston, it was Hawaii coach Riley Wallace's turn to cry foul over officiating.
With Hawaii nursing a one-point lead, an offensive foul called against Rainbow guard Carl English with less than a minute left gave Louisiana Tech the ball, and the Bulldogs capitalized to squeak out a 66-65 Western Athletic Conference victory at the Thomas Assembly Center.
"It was absolutely nothing," Wallace said of the foul on English. "We ran that (play) 32 times tonight and we did not have any offensive fouls but that one."
Louisiana Tech center Zach Johnson, a 58 percent free-throw shooter entering the game, hit two foul shots with nine seconds left and blocked English's last-second attempt to give the Bulldogs the win before 2,627 at the Thomas Assembly Center.
Louisiana Tech improved to 8-9 overall and 5-5 in the WAC with its third straight win.
Hawaii, winner of its last 24 games at home, is now 1-6 away from Honolulu and stands at 13-6 overall and 6-5 in the WAC heading into tomorrow's game at Southern Methodist.
"It's kind of frustrating now, but we just have to hold our heads up and look for that break on the road," UH forward Nkeruwem Akpan said. "Our heads are high and we're going to go to SMU with high spirits."
Said Wallace: "There were a lot of tears in the locker room. But they usually fire up and get ready for the next one."
Louisiana Tech forward Antonio Meeking powered through the Rainbows for 27 points and 10 rebounds. Lavelle Felton added 16 points, while Johnson contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds.
"They kept looking for Meeking, and he's a good player," Akpan said. "He was hitting some shots, putting the ball on the floor and going to the bucket. He's a tough player. He's big and he's athletic."
Said Wallace: "He's so strong that even if you foul him he gets the shot off and makes it."
Hawaii guard Michael Kuebler matched Meeking with 27 points. English, the WAC's leading scorer, finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Akpan scored 10 points off the bench for the Rainbows. UH also got a boost from reserve Vaidotas Peciukas, who finished with seven points in 13 minutes. Rainbow point guard Mark Campbell was the team's top rebounder with 10 boards.
"It's a tough place to play and we were right there, better game than we had here last year," Wallace said.
Louisiana Tech held the lead for much of the first half, but Hawaii rallied to take a 33-32 advantage at halftime led by Kuebler's 17 points.
LaTech opened up a seven-point cushion early as the Rainbows got off to a cold start. But Kuebler heated up to score 11 straight points for UH and hit a 3-pointer to give Hawaii its first lead at 22-20.
Wallace kept English on the bench for much of the half as the junior struggled on the defensive end.
LaTech responded with a 6-0 run and maintained the lead until the half's closing moments, when English drained a 3-pointer to give the Rainbows a 33-30 advantage.
The second half opened much like the first, with Louisiana Tech taking a 36-33 lead on two buckets by Meeking.
Kuebler stepped up again with a layup and a 3-pointer to give the Rainbows a 38-36 lead. Meeking gave LaTech the lead back, but the Bulldogs couldn't shake the Rainbows.
Each time LaTech tried to break away from the leash, the Rainbows pulled the Bulldogs back. English tied the game at 56 with a free throw with less than seven minutes left in the game.
The game seesawed again, with the Bulldogs taking a 63-61 lead on a dunk by Johnson. UH forward Phil Martin then tied the game with a jumper.
After a free throw by Meeking, Hawaii center Haim Shimonovich scored his only points of the night to give UH a 65-64 lead with just over a minute left.
The Rainbows regained possession after a LaTech miss and were running the clock down when English was called for pushing off with 30 seconds left.
On its ensuing possession, Louisiana Tech got the ball to Johnson, who was then fouled by Shimonovich. Johnson made both free throws to give the Bulldogs the lead for good.
Hawaii had a final shot with four seconds left, but English's attempt was blocked by Johnson to give Hawaii its third road defeat by two points or less.
"It's not like we're doing a bad job," Akpan said. "We just have to get by that final minute."
WAC standings
WAC
gamesOverall W L Pct. W L Fresno St. 9 2 .818 15 4 Nevada 7 3 .700 12 8 SMU 6 4 .600 11 9 Rice 5 4 .556 13 6 Hawaii 6 5 .545 12 6 Louisiana Tech 5 5 .500 8 9 Tulsa 4 5 .444 11 7 Boise St. 4 6 .400 10 10 San Jose St. 2 8 .200 5 14 UTEP 2 8 .200 4 15
Yesterday
Nevada 67, Boise St. 64
Fresno St. 76, UTEP 63
SMU 82, San Jose St. 69
Louisiana Tech 66, Hawaii 65
Louisiana Tech 66, Hawaii 65
WARRIORS (13-6, 6-5 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 2 8 0 0 28 6 3 4 Shimonovich 1 3 0 0 30 2 2 2 Campbell 0 1 0 0 40 10 4 0 English 4 13 4 6 30 8 3 15 Kuebler 8 17 8 8 37 2 3 27 Peciukas 3 5 0 0 13 3 1 7 Akpan 5 11 0 1 22 2 1 10 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 23 58 12 15 200 39 17 65 BULLDOGS (8-9, 5-5 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Johnson 5 8 3 4 33 12 1 13 Meeking 12 21 3 6 37 10 1 27 Felton 7 15 1 1 38 2 3 16 Edwards 1 5 1 2 34 3 2 3 Wilder 1 9 0 0 18 2 1 2 Woods 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Powell 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 Dean 2 4 1 4 27 6 1 5 Brown 0 3 0 0 7 2 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 28 66 9 17 200 41 9 66
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 33, Louisiana Tech 32.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 7-15 (Kuebler 3-6, English 3-8, Peciukas 1-1), Louisiana Tech 1-6 (Felton 1-2, Brown 0-1, Wilder 0-3). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 15, Louisiana Tech 12. Technical fouls -- None. Steals -- Hawaii 7 (Campbell 2, Peciukas 2, Martin, English, Akpan); Louisiana Tech 4 (Edwards 2, Felton, Dean). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 8 (Akpan 3, Shimonovich 2, Martin, Campbell, English); Louisiana Tech 5 (Johnson 2, Meeking, Wilder, Dean). Turnovers -- Hawaii 10 (Kuebler 3, Martin 2, English 2, Akpan 2, Shimonovich); Louisiana Tech 8 (Felton 4, Meeking 2, Wilder 2). Officials -- Tom O'Neill, Ted Hillary, Mark Whitehead. A -- 2,627.
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