DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Michael Kuebler sliced past Boise State's Bryan Defares last night in a 68-65 win. Kuebler scored five points.
’Bows make play, The Hawaii basketball team was one defensive stop short in its loss at Boise State in early January. Last night, the Rainbows delivered the key play on defense when they needed it most to pull out a 68-65 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center.
get revenge
With another game against Boise State
Martin makes Broncos feel his pain
on the line, Hawaii gets the stop it needs
in the final minuteBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com"It was a revenge game for us; we wanted to get them back," UH forward Phil Martin said. "It was a battle. It started getting close at the end, and it came down to defense and execution.
"When it came down to crunch time, defense was the main thing."
A crowd of 4,620 watched the Rainbows improve to 16-10 overall and 8-9 in the Western Athletic Conference by avenging a 65-63 overtime loss to the Broncos in Boise.
Boise State dropped to 12-15 overall and 6-11 in conference play.
Martin scored in double figures for the seventh straight game, finishing with a game-high 18.
But it was Martin's stuff on Boise State's Aaron Haynes in the final seconds that helped preserve the victory.
In the first meeting, Haynes' tip-in at the end of regulation sent the game into overtime. Haynes again had a chance to tie the game last night, but Martin blocked his 3-point attempt and Haynes misfired at the buzzer to send the Rainbows home happy.
"It was do or die and I went and did it," Martin said. "I got my hand on it and it was a clean block."
Nkeruwem Akpan, making his second start of the season, scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half and made all six of his shots from the field. Guard Carl English scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
The Rainbow big men benefited from a new wrinkle in the offense as Martin and Akpan dissected the Boise State defense with pinpoint passing in the paint leading to easy buckets.
"We were picking them apart on both sides," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "(Martin) got some baskets off of point-blank, high-percentage stuff so we didn't have to live and die with 3-pointers down the stretch where if we miss them we lose."
Akpan hadn't expected to start, as he worked with the second team in practice all week.
"Milos (Zivanovic's) name was up there and all of a sudden (Wallace) said, 'Nope, change of plans, you're starting,'" Akpan said.
BSU forwards Jason Ellis and Haynes kept Boise State in the game to the final frantic seconds with 15 points each. Ellis also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. But 21 turnovers hampered the Broncos' cause.
"What really hurt was we missed a lot of shots inside, and the turnovers," BSU coach Greg Graham said. "When you're on the road turnovers hurt you."
Boise State took a 35-34 lead into halftime as foul trouble forced the Rainbows to go with a four-guard lineup for the last 5:45 of the first half.
The unusual substitution pattern was necessitated when post players Akpan, Zivanovic and Martin picked up two fouls each.
The small lineup held its own against the Broncos as reserve guard Jason Carter sparked the 'Bows and energized the crowd with steals to start fast breaks.
The lineup got even smaller when Ryne Holliday (6-1) replaced Carl English (6-5), who picked up his third foul with 2:03 left in the half. Holliday had played just seven minutes all season coming into the game.
"We brought in Riley's Runts and they brought in energy, and I think that energy carried over to the big guys when they came back in the second half," Wallace said. "They swarmed all over those guys. ... You have to give those guys a lot of credit. They gave us real energy and probably saved the game."
Haynes led the Broncos with 10 points, including two 3-pointers, while Ellis scored nine on four-of-six shooting from the field.
Hawaii began the second half with a 15-4 run to open up its biggest lead of the game at 49-39. Akpan contributed eight points in the five-minute stretch.
Boise State chipped away and closed within three at 60-57 on a jumper by Booker Nabors. The Broncos then tied the game when Bryan Defares was fouled by Mark Campbell on a 3-point attempt. Defares drained all three free throws to knot the score at 60 with 3:28 left in the game.
Hawaii aided Boise State's comeback by making just one of its first six free-throw attempts in the second half .
Martin gave the Rainbows the lead back with a layup, but Ellis tied it again with a short hook shot over Akpan with 1:58 left.
Hawaii reclaimed a four-point advantage as Martin made two free throws and finished a fast break by flipping in a layup off an assist from Campbell.
The Broncos made another charge when C.J. Williams made a free throw and Solomon Wyatt picked the ball from Campbell and went in for an uncontested layup to cut the UH lead to 66-65 with 36.1 seconds left.
The Broncos fouled Campbell on the Rainbows' next possession and the senior knocked down both shots to extend the UH lead back to three.
Boise State called timeout to set up its final shot. The Broncos found Haynes for a 3-pointer, but his shot was stuffed by Martin. Haynes retrieved the rebound and his second attempt bounced off the front of the rim to end the game.
"The last thing I told them when they left the huddle was 'Don't follow through on a shot,'" Wallace said. "You have to contest, but you have to go straight up. He went straight up and the ball came at him and he blocked it."
Notes: Hawaii closes the regular season against UTEP tomorrow night. The game will be followed by the annual Senior Night festivities, as the team honors Mark Campbell, Ryne Holliday and Lance Takaki. ... Tulsa and Nevada, both 11-6 in the WAC, meet tomorrow in Reno for the top seed in next week's conference tournament. Fresno State would have been the top seed in the tournament, but the Bulldogs were declared ineligible by the WAC on Tuesday in the wake of a school-imposed ban on NCAA and NIT play. The WAC tournament is set for March 11-15 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa. ... Tomorrow's regular-season finale against UTEP is "UH Student Appreciation Night." The first 500 students at the Sheriff Center get in free. Also, the first 2,500 fans receive a free team photo.
WAC Standings
WAC GAMES OVERALL W L PCT. W L Fresno St. 13 4 .765 20 7 Nevada 11 6 .647 16 11 Tulsa 11 6 .647 18 9 Rice 10 7 .588 18 9 SMU 10 7 .588 15 12 Louisiana Tech 9 8 .529 12 13 HAWAII 8 9 .471 16 10 Boise St. 6 11 .353 12 15 San Jose St. 4 13 .235 7 19 UTEP 3 14 .176 5 22 Yesterday
San Jose St. 74, UTEP 73, OT
Hawaii 68, Boise St. 65
Hawaii 68, Boise St. 65
BRONCOS (12-15, 6-11 WAC)
FG FGA FT FTA MIN REB A TP Defares 3 8 3 3 34 0 3 9 Skiffer 1 3 3 4 30 1 3 5 Haynes 5 11 3 5 32 9 1 15 Nabors 4 8 0 0 26 1 1 9 Ellis 7 13 1 2 35 14 0 15 Williams 2 7 1 2 22 0 1 6 Wyatt 2 3 0 0 14 6 0 4 Bates 1 2 0 0 5 1 0 2 Gainous 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 25 55 11 16 200 34 9 65 WARRIORS (16-10, 8-9 WAC)
FG FGA FT FTA MIN REB A TP Martin 8 13 2 6 29 6 2 18 Campbell 2 3 2 2 40 3 5 6 English 5 14 2 2 38 9 2 14 Kuebler 2 6 1 4 30 3 3 5 Akpan 6 6 3 5 31 0 5 15 Zivanovic 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Carter 0 3 2 4 6 1 1 2 Peciukas 4 7 0 1 21 2 1 8 Holliday 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 27 52 12 24 200 25 19 68 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 -- Boise St. 35, Hawaii 34.
3-point goals -- Boise St. 4-14 (Haynes 2-4, Nabors 1-2, Williams 1-6, Defares 0-2); Hawaii 2-10 (English 2-6, Kuebler 0-1, Carter 0-1, Peciukas 0-2).
Personal fouls -- Boise St. 21, Hawaii 18.
Technical fouls -- Boise St. 1 (Haynes); Hawaii 1 (English).
Steals -- Boise St. 6 (Defares 2, Wyatt 2, Skiffer, Williams); Hawaii 13 (Campbell 4, Martin 3, Carter 2, Kuebler 2, English, Akpan).
Blocked shots -- Boise St. 0; Hawaii 1 (Martin).
Turnovers -- Boise St. 21 (Skiffer 5, Defares 4, Haynes 4, Ellis 3, Nabors 2, Williams 2, Wyatt); Hawaii 15 (Campbell 3, English 3, Akpan 3, Martin 2, Kuebler, Zivanovic, Carter, Peciukas).
Officials -- Mike Reed, Mike Littlewood, Bryan Barr.
A -- 6,490.
UH Athletics
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Maybe it was the bandage. Martin makes
Broncos feel his painBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comSomething did the trick for Phil Martin last night. Sporting a bandage over his left eye from a cut suffered earlier in last night's 68-65 win over Boise State, Hawaii's junior forward, in a span of 103 seconds:
>> Hit two free throws that gave the Rainbows the lead for good at 64-62;Martin took an elbow from Haynes above his left eye with 13:38 to go in the Western Athletic Conference game. To add insult to injury, Martin was also hit with his third foul after he appeared to go straight up defensively against Haynes.>> Tapped out a pass to Mark Campbell that Martin recycled into a basket;
>> And capped Aaron Haynes' frantic 3-point attempt to preserve Hawaii's victory last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"I'm a warrior," said Martin, who finished with 18 points, 12 in the critical second half. "I used it to motivate me. I was pretty upset on the call and I got the cut. I was ready to go.
"I had already missed four free throws and it was a tie game."
And for the block?
"It was do or die," said Martin, whose cut required several stitches after the game. "I went out there and got my hand on the ball. I crunched down and played some hard defense and got him back.
"Everything was important, but playing defense was what got me my position in the first place. And of course, getting the points were important. I just wanted to help the team."
UH coach Riley Wallace said he didn't think Martin had a good night to start off.
"He was in one of the moods, a personal mood where he puts pressure on himself," said Wallace. "It looked like it was one of those nights where he wasn't feeling it. But when Tony (Nkeruwem Akpan) started making those layups inside and Phil started doing it, we started picking them apart."
UH Athletics
