ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kent State's Nate Gerwig reached for a rebound after a missed shot by Hawaii's Haim Shimonovich during the first half of yesterday's Bracket Buster game in Kent, Ohio. The Rainbows won 79-78.
’Bows slash Flashes KENT, Ohio >> Carl English led Hawaii with 22 points and Michael Kuebler hit some key shots down the stretch as the Rainbow Warriors beat Kent State 79-78 Saturday night.
Hawaii beats Kent State
79-78 for a rare road win
Associate PressKuebler scored nine of his 12 points in the final 5:10, including a 3-pointer from the right baseline with 3:50 left that broke a 61-61 tie and ignited Hawaii’s late run.
He added another long jumper with 2:34 remaining for a 67-61 lead. He later gave Hawaii (15-8, 7-7 Western Athletic Conference) its biggest lead, 75-67 with 23 seconds remaining, on a breakaway layup.
“We need some momentum going into the WAC tournament, and hopefully it will start with this game,” Kuebler said.
Eric Haut and Matt Jakeway, who combined for three 3-pointers in the final 19 seconds, nearly gave Kent State an improbable comeback.
“We’ve lost four games just like that one already this season,” Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. “If you stay in the game long enough, these sort of things tend to balance out.”
Antonio Gates led Kent State (18-6, 11-4 Mid-American Conference) with 30 points and seven rebounds. He hit a series of big second-half shots that gave the Golden Flashes three different leads. Kent State has lost four of its last five games after a 17-2 start.
“This was a great opportunity for our team to make a statement and build a resume,” Kent State coach Jim Christian said. “It’s still not as important as a conference game ... but at this point in the season, every loss hurts.”
Hawaii had five players in double figures -- Phil Martin scored 14 and Haim Shimonovich and Mark Campbell each had 10.
Haut finished with 15 points and Jakeway scored 10 for Kent State.
It was Hawaii’s first regular season win in the Eastern time zone since a 1972 victory over Connecticut.
The nationally televised game was played before a sold out crowd of 6,327.
WAC standings
WAC GAMES OVERALL W L Pct. W L Fresno St. 12 3 .800 19 6 Nevada 10 5 .667 15 10 Louisiana Tech 9 6 .600 12 11 Rice 8 6 .571 16 8 Tulsa 8 6 .571 15 9 SMU 8 7 .533 13 12 HAWAII 7 7 .500 15 8 Boise St. 5 9 .357 11 13 San Jose St. 3 11 .214 6 17 UTEP 2 12 .143 4 20 YESTERDAY
Northern Iowa 76, Louisiana Tech 71
SMU 73, Rice 63
Boise St. 69, UTEP 52
Creighton 67, Fresno St. 66
Hawaii 79, Kent St. 78
Nevada 74, San Jose St. 66
Gonzaga 69, Tulsa 60
WARRIORS (7-7, 15-8 wac) Hawaii 79, Kent St. 78
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 6 7 2 3 23 8 1 14 English 7 15 6 7 38 3 2 22 Shimonovich 4 8 2 2 32 5 2 10 Campbell 1 4 8 8 39 2 7 10 Kuebler 5 10 1 2 23 2 1 12 Carter 2 6 2 2 16 3 1 6 Peciukas 0 1 1 2 8 1 0 1 Akpan 2 4 0 2 21 1 0 4 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 27 55 22 28 200 29 14 79 GOLDEN FLASHES (18-5)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Gates 11 20 7 11 36 7 1 30 Gerwig 2 3 4 6 25 5 0 8 Haut 4 12 3 3 35 1 2 15 Haynes 2 2 0 0 32 1 6 4 Wilkins 3 8 2 3 34 3 1 9 Jakeway 3 4 2 2 17 2 0 10 Howard 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Brown 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Bedford 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 Edwards 1 1 0 0 14 3 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 26 50 19 25 200 28 10 78 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 39, Kent St. 34.
3-point goals--Hawaii 3-10 (English 2-5, Kuebler 1-3, Carter 0-2), Kent St. 7-19 (Haut 4-10, Jakeway 2-3, Wilkins 1-6).
Personal fouls--Hawaii 22, Kent St. 23.
Technical fouls--none.
Steals-- Hawaii 6 (Carter 3, Martin, Campbell, Akpan); Kent St. 6 (Jakeway 2, Haut 2, Gates, Edwards).
Blocked shots--Hawaii 3 (Shimonovich, Campbell, Kuebler); Kent St. 2 (Haut, Haynes).
Turnovers--Hawaii 13 (English 4, Shimonovich 3, Carter 3, Martin, Kuebler, Akpan); Kent St. 16 (Gates 6, Haut 5, Wilkins 2, Jakeway 2, Edwards).
Officials--Kelly Groom, Rick Hartzell, David Stevens.
A--6,327.
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