ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii forward Julian Sensley pulled down a rebound against Boise State's Aaron Haynes while Jason Ellis looked on during the first half yesterday.
Broncos
trample
RainbowsBoise State beats a shorthanded
Hawaii team with dominating
play inside the key
BOISE, Idaho >> Riley Wallace hates excuses, which is why he didn't make any after Boise State ran his Hawaii basketball team out of the Boise State Pavilion yesterday.
Boise St. 74 Hawaii 57
NEXT UP
at S. Illinois, Saturday
The Rainbow Warriors, playing without starter Haim Shimonovich and with Julian Sensley at less than full strength, lost to the Broncos 74-57 in front of 5,033 at The Pavilion.
"That's not an excuse -- we're a good enough team that we're supposed to go and play without those guys," Wallace said.
Sensley played, but he had a tooth pulled yesterday morning and played only 25 minutes. He scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Shimonovich's absence due to a sprained right knee was notable. Without the 6-foot-10, 270-pounder inside, Boise State attacked the paint without hesitation.
It worked, as the Broncos scored 40 points in the key. Aaron Haynes (27 points) and Bryan Defares (17) were the primary beneficiaries of the strategy.
"They scored at will, they had all their points in the paint," Wallace said. "It was a two-man show for them. Two guys beat us. We just let (Haynes) catch it and back it in."
While Wallace wouldn't use Shimonovich's absence as an alibi for his team's defense, Boise State coach Greg Graham said it was a factor.
"Obviously, they missed the big fellow," Graham said. "It makes them a different team."
The loss dropped Hawaii to 17-6 overall and 9-4 in the Western Athletic Conference.
Boise State (16-8, 8-6) was playing without its leading scorer, Jermaine Blackburn, who is out indefinitely with a dislocated shoulder. He scored 19 points in the first meeting, won by Hawaii in Honolulu last month.
Even without Blackburn, the Broncos never gave Hawaii a chance yesterday. After the Rainbow Warriors took a 3-0 lead, Haynes scored twice and BSU never looked back.
BSU led 32-18 at halftime, closing the first half on a 13-3 run.
"We just didn't have any fight, and Boise had plenty of fight," Wallace said. "We lost our fire. A lot of that was they took it out of us early because they were scoring at will."
The Rainbows threatened to make a game of it in the second half, thanks to an unlikely source.
Guard Vaidotas Peciukas, who had played only 150 minutes all season, scored a career-high 14 points to lead Hawaii. All of them came in the second half.
He scored five points in a 15-6 run at the start of the second half to pull Hawaii within 38-33 with 15:12 left.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Julian Sensley played for Hawaii in last night's loss at Boise State despite having a tooth pulled earlier in the day.
"He came out of nowhere," Graham said of Peciukas, who had made only one of six shots from 3-point range all season before making two of three yesterday. "We weren't ready for him. He almost got them back in the game."
That was his plan.
"I just wanted to get in the game and try to get us back into it," Peciukas said.
He did that, but it didn't last long.
With their lead down to five, the Broncos reeled off nine points in a row to make it 47-33. When Peciukas scored seven in a row for his team, Hawaii trailed only 50-41 with 8:50 to go.
But three straight Boise State possessions resulted in nine points on treys by Eric Lane (nine points) and Franco Harris (eight points). Harris also hit three free throws after being knocked down on an attempt from behind the arc.
"We felt like we could get back in it," Hawaii guard Michael Kuebler said. "Every time we got it to 10, they'd come right back and hit a shot right away."
Eventually, the Broncos led by as many as 20 points before both teams emptied their benches.
"I thought they did an exceptional job defensively tonight on our stuff," Wallace said of the Broncos.
Hawaii shot 36.5 percent from the field and was outrebounded by a smaller BSU team by a 40-29 margin.
Kuebler had 12 points, while Jeff Blackett added 10 points starting in place of Shimonovich.
For the Broncos, it was sweet revenge for the earlier loss in Honolulu.
"We should have had the one in Hawaii," Haynes said. "We made a couple of mistakes down the stretch and I missed my 1-and-1 free throw. I felt we should have had that one. Coming out today, I had it in me and just wanted to take it to them."
And Graham knows what to do when Haynes gets on a roll.
"Once Aaron hits a couple points, you kind of get the feel when he's on," Graham said. "When he gets rolling, it's a good thing to get him the basketball."
Hawaii had no answers, and because of it, the WAC standings are a major mess.
Hawaii drops into a first place tie with Rice and Texas-El Paso. Nevada is percentage points behind in fourth place at 10-5. Boise State and Fresno State, both 8-6, are close behind.
Note: After the game, Wallace said Shimonovich could be back for Monday's game at UTEP. The Rainbows continue their road trip by traveling to Carbondale, Ill., today. They face No. 20 Southern Illinois in an ESPN Bracket Buster game on Saturday. ... Kuebler tied a school record by making a 3-pointer in his 19th straight game.
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WAC standings
Conference All Games W L Pct. W L Pct. Hawaii 9 4 .692 17 6 .739 Rice 9 4 .692 17 7 .708 UTEP 9 4 .692 18 5 .783 Nevada 10 5 .667 16 8 .667 Boise St. 8 6 .571 16 8 .667 Fresno St. 8 6 .571 12 11 .522 Louisiana Tech 6 7 .462 12 11 .522 SMU 4 9 .308 10 13 .435 Tulsa 3 11 .214 7 16 .304 San Jose St. 1 11 .083 6 16 .273
Yesterday
Fresno State 61, Tulsa 41
Rice 87, Nevada 75
Boise State 74, Hawaii 57
Today (All times Hawaii time)
San Jose State at UTEP, 4:05 p.m.
Saturday (All times Hawaii time)
SMU at Louisiana Tech, 10 a.m.
San Jose State at Boise State, 11 a.m.
ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday
Louisiana-Lafayette at Rice, 8 a.m.
East Tenn. State at Fresno State, 10 a.m.
Gonzaga at Tulsa, 1 p.m.
Toledo at Nevada, 4 p.m.
Hawaii at Southern Illinois, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Hawaii's remaining games
Saturday, ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday, at Southern Illinois, 7 p.m.; Feb. 23, at UTEP, 3:05 p.m.; Feb. 27, Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.; Feb. 29, Rice, 3:05 p.m.
Mar. 4, at Nevada, 5:05 p.m.; Mar. 6, at Fresno State, 5 p.m.
Mar. 9-13 WAC Tournament, at Fresno, Calif.
Boise State 74, Hawaii 57
RAINBOWS (17-6, 9-4 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 1 6 2 2 25 3 0 4 Blackett 3 9 4 6 35 7 0 10 Sensley 4 8 1 2 29 7 3 9 Lee 1 5 0 0 23 3 2 2 Kuebler 4 10 1 2 34 0 0 12 Sottos 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 Zivanovic 0 0 3 4 2 1 0 3 Carter 1 2 0 0 14 0 1 3 Gantt 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Peciukas 5 8 2 3 19 1 1 14 Nash 0 3 0 0 6 1 1 0 Jesinskis 0 0 0 0 9 2 1 0 Team 3 Totals 19 52 13 19 200 29 9 57 BRONCOS (16-8, 8-6 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Haynes 11 16 5 6 36 12 2 27 Ellis 3 11 0 2 35 13 1 6 Defares 7 11 3 5 33 6 4 17 Skiffer 0 1 0 0 31 5 6 0 Karl 0 3 2 2 16 1 1 2 Lane 3 4 0 0 15 0 0 9 Nabors 2 4 0 0 15 1 0 5 Fried 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Bates 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Harris 1 5 5 5 15 0 0 8 Team 2 Totals 27 55 15 20 200 40 14 74
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 -- BSU 32, Hawaii 18
3-point goals -- Hawaii 6-18 (Kuebler 3-8, Peciukas 2-3, Carter 1-1, Sottos 0-1, Lee 0-1, Sensley 0-2, Nash 0-2), BSU 5-14 (Lane 3-3, Nabors 1-2, Harris 1-5, Haynes 0-1, Karl 0-3). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 16, BSU 15. Fouled out -- Carter.
Steals -- Hawaii 2 (Martin, Nash), BSU 5 (Haynes, Ellis, Defares, Skiffer, Harris). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 1 (Martin), BSU 3 (Ellis 2, Defares). Turnovers -- Hawaii 10 (Kuebler 3, Sensley 2, Martin 2, Blackett, Carter, Jesinskis), BSU 10 (Nabors 3, Defares 2, Team 2, Haynes, Ellis, Harris). Officials -- Gracey, Reed, Stith. A -- 5,033.
