[ UH BASKETBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii's Haim Shimonovich put up a shot in front of Rice's Michael Harris yesterday in Houston.
Owls snap UH’s
6-game win streakRice records a 76-73 victory
to drop Hawaii into a three-way
tie for first place in the WACWAC standings
HOUSTON >> Hawaii was hoping to put itself in elite company last night by pulling out a win at Rice, which had lost only twice at home to a pair of top-five teams in Connecticut and Stanford.
But the Rainbows' remarkable road run came to an end before 2,923 fans at Autry Court in a 76-73 loss to the Owls, snapping Hawaii's six-game Western Athletic Conference win streak.
"We definitely can't let this bring us down," said Hawaii guard Michael Kuebler, who scored a game-high 24 points. "We need to learn from it and put it behind us. We've got a big game on Saturday (at Tulsa) and we're still in first place."
Still in first, but with some company. The loss, which also snapped the Rainbow Warriors' three-game WAC road winning streak, dropped Hawaii (14-4, 6-2 WAC) into a first-place tie with Rice (14-5, 6-2) and Fresno State.
"This is not a typical Rice team," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "This is a very good Rice team, and you have to give them credit. They've played a tough schedule and played Connecticut right to the wire and played Stanford tough. They're going to win a lot of games at home, and it's just can you go on the road in this league and win consistently?"
The Rainbows shot a season-high 62.5 percent from the field on 30-of-48 shooting and had 22 assists, but they turned the ball over a season-high 24 times, which led to Rice scoring 35 points. The Owls had 16 steals.
"Defensively we were pitiful," Wallace said. "We didn't play hard, especially on the post defense, which we worked on the last two days. We knew (Rice forward Michael) Harris and those guys were very good in the low post and we really didn't cover them the way we were supposed to late in the game."
Kuebler hit 10 of 16 shots from the field, including four of nine from behind the 3-point line, and Julian Sensley added 20 points and 11 rebounds. Hawaii was outrebounded 28-22, including 17-8 on the offensive end.
"They put up a good fight and came out real aggressively," Sensley said. "We were able to knock shots down but we turned it over and didn't play defense. We have a target on our back because we're in first place in the league and everybody is coming out ready to play us. We can't let this affect us. It's in the past, and we have to get ready for Tulsa."
Jason McKrieth (19 points) and Harris (18 points) accounted for nearly half of Rice's offense. Harris, the WAC's third-leading scorer, played only seven minutes in the second half and sat out most of the final 15 minutes of the game with stomach and back spasms.
"It was a hard-fought game," Rice coach Willis Wilson said. "Hawaii's not the kind of team you can put away. They showed a lot of fight and grit and hit some big shots down the stretch to narrow the margin."
The Owls led 60-47 midway through the second half before the Rainbows went on a 9-0 run to get within 60-56. Jason Carter's 3-pointer with 8:08 left in the game following a tough offensive rebound by Phil Martin sliced the lead to 63-61.
The game stayed tight the rest of the way, with Rice nursing a 70-68 lead inside the final two minutes. McKrieth's steal led to a pair of free throws by Brock Gillespie that put Rice up 72-68 with 1:36 remaining.
After the Rainbows turned the ball over and Rice missed a shot, Sensley misfired on a jumper from the baseline and got his own rebound. But he was called for a charge that gave Rice control and was then called for an intentional foul when the Owls got the ball in play.
Rice's Yamar Diene hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to make it 74-68, but the Owls kept control of the ball because of the intentional foul. Diene went to the line moments later and missed both tries, leaving the Rainbows' faint hope.
Kuebler drained a 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds left, but Rice point guard Rashid Smith hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds left to put the game away. Rice scored its final 11 points from the free-throw line and made 25 of 34 attempts in the game.
"In the second half, we were able to get some of our back cuts and things that make us go and we were able to get back in the ballgame," Wallace said. "At the end we were able to give ourselves a chance to win the ballgame and we didn't execute twice."
The Rainbows jumped out to a 23-16 lead in the first half before allowing Rice to go on a 16-2 run to take the lead for good. Trailing 33-29, Hawaii watched Rice steal the ball on four consecutive trips down the court and pull away for a 43-34 halftime lead.
"They were pressuring the guards and getting to them," Sensley said. "All year we've never really had a team that pressured us like they did, and they had the momentum swinging our way and our guards weren't able to bounce back. Putting pressure on them like made it real hard to get in our offense."
TV for Tulsa: Hawaii's game at Tulsa on Saturday will be televised live on KFVE. The game will be produced by SportsWest and is scheduled to air at 10 a.m.
Rice 76, Hawaii 73
Warriors (14-4, 6-2 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 4 6 0 0 29 4 1 8 Sensley 8 13 1 1 40 11 3 20 Shimonovich 4 5 0 2 28 2 5 8 Lee 1 2 0 0 26 1 3 2 Kuebler 10 16 0 0 37 1 2 24 Carter 2 3 0 0 14 0 6 5 Nash 1 2 0 0 3 0 0 2 Blackett 0 0 0 0 14 0 2 0 Jesinskis 0 1 4 4 9 2 0 4 Team 1 Totals 30 48 5 7 200 22 22 73 Owls (14-5, 6-2 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Harrison 3 6 3 4 24 5 0 9 Harris 8 10 2 3 24 5 3 18 McKrieth 7 11 3 4 33 2 2 19 Gillespie 1 8 4 5 32 1 1 7 Smith 0 2 8 8 34 2 7 8 Williams 1 2 0 2 5 0 0 2 Kollik 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 Okrzesik 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Moore 2 5 2 2 14 5 0 6 Diene 2 5 3 6 26 4 0 7 Team 4 Totals 24 49 25 34 200 28 13 76 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 -- Rice 43, Hawaii 34.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 8-17 (Kuebler 4, Sensley 3, Carter), Rice 3-11 (McKrieth 2, Gillespie). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 21, Rice 13. Steals -- Hawaii 9 (Martin 2, Lee 2, Sensley, Shimonovich, Kuebler, Carter, Jesinskis), Rice 16 (McKrieth 5, Smith 3, Harris 2, Moore 2, Diene 2, Gillespie, Kollik). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 2 (Kuebler, Blackett), Rice 1 (Diene). Turnovers -- Hawaii 24 (Lee 5, Martin 3, Sensley 3, Shimonovich 3, Kuebler 3, Carter 3, Jesinskis 2, Blackett, team), Rice 19 (Smith 7, McKrieth 3, Diene 3, Moore 2, Harrison, Gillespie, Williams, Okrzesik).
A -- 2,923.
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WAC standings
Conference All Games W L Pct. W L Pct. Hawaii 6 2 .750 14 4 .778 Rice 6 2 .750 14 5 .737 Fresno St. 6 2 .750 10 7 .588 Nevada 5 3 .625 11 6 .647 UTEP 4 3 .571 13 4 .765 Boise St. 3 4 .429 11 6 .647 Louisiana Tech 3 4 .429 9 8 .529 SMU 2 5 .286 8 9 .471 Tulsa 2 5 .286 6 10 .375 San Jose St. 0 7 .000 5 12 .294 Today
San Jose State at Tulsa, 3:05 p.m.
SMU at UTEP, 4:05 p.m.
Louisiana Tech at Boise State, 4:30 p.m.
