[ UH BASKETBALL ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Jason Carter, Michael Kuebler and EA Sports All-Star Tony Harvey battled for a rebound during last night's game.
Rainbows win
exhibitionHawaii beats the EA Sports
All-Stars 69-67 behind 15 points
from guard Michael Kuebler
After the smiles and handshakes were exchanged, three products of local college basketball programs helped the EA Sports All-Stars provide a stiff test for this year's Hawaii squad in an exhibition contest yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Former UH guards Mark Campbell and Mike McIntyre and former Chaminade standout Leon Ballard all scored in double figures for the All-Stars, but the current Rainbow Warriors were able to pull out a 69-67 win before a crowd of 1,914.
"It felt great," said Campbell, who completed his UH career last season. "I just went out to have fun, play in front of a crowd and obviously it's fun to play against all the old teammates. It would have been fun to beat them, but we were a dollar short."
Hawaii went 2-0 in its exhibition games this season by narrowly avoiding its second loss to EA Sports in the last two seasons.
UH guard Michael Kuebler led all scorers with 15 points, while center Haim Shimonovich had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Jake Sottos came off the bench and went 4-for-4 from the field, including two 3-point goals. His short turnaround jumper with 1:42 left proved to be the difference in the game.
"It's always good to get a win," Shimonovich said. "We have a lot of things to improve ... but it's good to win a close game. We stepped it up in the end and won it."
Ballard completed his Chaminade career last season and missed out on the Silverswords' meeting with UH in the Maui Invitational on Nov. 25. But he made the most of his shot at the Rainbows yesterday by scoring 14 points. Former Missouri center Johnny Parker also finished with 14.
"It was good experience, because Chaminade doesn't play many (Division I) schools," Ballard said. "For me to come out here and actually get to play UH was pretty fun."
McIntyre made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. Campbell had 10 points and eight assists. Utah product Tony Harvey also had 10 points.
The exhibition game broke up a 19-day span between regular-season games for the current Rainbows. UH hadn't played since losing to Dayton in the championship game of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 26, and won't play again until a meeting with Oregon State next Monday.
"We were just happy to be out there, having a week off and knowing we're not going to play for another week," UH guard Logan Lee said. "We just wanted to get out there and play."
UH coach Riley Wallace got all 13 UH players on the court in the contest, and all but two played at least 10 minutes.
While the game gave reserves like Sottos a chance to earn some playing time, it also highlighted some lingering question marks.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Jason Carter put up a shot over former UH guard Mike McIntyre last night.
The Rainbows struggled to run their offense against Dayton's zone defense in their loss on Maui and had their rhythm disrupted by a zone again yesterday.
After going into halftime tied at 37, Hawaii opened the second half by tearing through the All-Stars' man-to-man defense en route to a 16-4 run. Kuebler drained two 3-pointers and provided 10 points in the run. His layup gave UH a 53-41 lead with 12:18 left in the game.
But the All-Stars switched to a zone to alter the flow of the contest and went on a 12-0 run of their own to climb back into contention.
"They came out with a lot more intensity in the second half, and our zone just kind of slowed them down enough to get us back into the game," Campbell said.
Wallace said he asked EA Sports coach Dudley Rutherford to use some zone against his squad.
"I told him I wanted to see some zone and they did it at the perfect time, too," Wallace said. "We have a week of practice to get ready for Oregon State ... and we'll keep working on it."
Ballard tied the game at 59 with a layup with 4:51 left. Sottos then drained a 3-pointer to give UH the lead back. A 3-pointer by Kuebler later gave UH a 67-63 advantage, but Parker responded with a pull-up jumper with 3:02 left.
Sottos then extended the Rainbows' lead by driving from the left and hitting a short turn-around jumper. Parker scored again to bring the All-Stars within two points, and when Ballard rebounded a miss by UH's Jason Carter, the All-Stars took possession with a chance to tie or win the game with less than a minute left.
But following a timeout with 14.8 seconds left, the All-Stars couldn't get a shot off as Carter poked the ball away from Harvey just before the buzzer.
"I was so tired," said McIntyre, who helped the All-Stars defeat UH 73-72 last year. "If it would have come my way I would have shot it, but I was tired."
Although the All-Stars hadn't practiced together much before yesterday's game, Wallace said they were structured enough to provide a needed test for his team.
"They didn't just come down and let it fly," Wallace said. "Mark made you guard penetration, they played some smart basketball, and their big guys were quick enough off the dribble."
Hawaii 69, EA Sports 67
ALL-STARS
WARRIORS
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Campbell 5 7 0 0 37 3 8 10 Harvey 4 9 0 0 34 3 4 10 Ballard 6 11 2 3 18 3 2 14 Maye 0 1 0 0 15 3 0 0 Parker 6 16 1 2 35 5 0 14 Bloom 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 Bryant 4 8 0 0 24 7 1 8 McIntyre 3 8 2 2 30 5 3 11 Team 1 Totals 28 60 5 7 200 30 18 67
Key -- fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Carter 1 5 0 0 19 6 1 2 Shimonovich 4 5 2 4 25 10 1 10 Kuebler 6 15 0 0 32 4 2 15 Blackett 3 5 0 2 19 4 4 7 Sensley 3 7 2 2 23 3 2 8 Martin 0 3 0 0 8 1 0 0 Sottos 4 4 0 0 11 1 2 10 Zivanovic 2 3 0 0 4 2 0 4 Lee 3 4 2 2 22 2 2 9 Peciukas 0 5 0 0 13 3 0 0 Nash 1 3 0 0 14 3 2 2 Jesinskis 1 2 0 1 10 0 0 2 Team 1 Totals 28 61 6 11 200 40 16 69
Halftime -- Hawaii 37, EA Sports 37.
3-point goals -- EA Sports 6-16 (McIntyre 3, Harvey 2, Parker), Hawaii 7-16 (Kuebler 3, Sottos 2, Blackett, Lee). Personal fouls -- EA Sports 10, Hawaii 11. Steals -- EA Sports 8 (Harvey 4, Campbell 2, Maye, Parker), Hawaii 7 (Sensley 2, Jesinskis 2, Carter, Shimonovich, Kuebler). Blocked shots -- EASports 2 (Maye 2), Hawaii 6 (Shimonovich 3, Blackett, Peciukas, Nash). Turnovers -- EA Sports 14 (Parker 3, Campbell 2, Harvey 2, Bryant 2, Ballard, Maye, Bloom, McIntyre, Team), Hawaii 15 (Shimonovich 3, Blackett 3, Carter 2, Kuebler 2, Sensley, Sottos, Peciukas, Nash, Jesinskis).
A -- 5,390.
