[ RAINBOW BASKETBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii's Phil Martin put up a shot as Fresno State's Chris Adams defended him during last night's game in Fresno, Calif.
Rainbows cold again
Hawaii struggles from the field
as it loses to Fresno State for the
second time this season
FRESNO, Calif. >> Julian Sensley did his best to spoil Senior Night for Fresno State guard Shantay Legans last night.
The Hawaii sophomore lit up the Save Mart Center for a career-high 24 points in last night's Western Athletic Conference showdown between the Rainbow Warriors and Bulldogs.
But it was Legans, a summer-league teammate of Sensley's during their high school days, who left the court with a smile as Fresno State completed a season sweep of the Rainbows with a 69-60 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams.
"It kind of hurts, because I'm never going to have the chance to play against him again," Sensley said.
Hawaii closed the regular season at 19-10 overall and 11-7 in the WAC after its fifth consecutive road loss. Fresno State evened its record at 14-14 and finished 10-8 in conference play.
Both teams' seedings in this week's WAC tournament were determined before tip-off last night due to the results of other games around the league.
Hawaii is the fifth seed and plays fourth-seeded Rice in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Fresno State is sixth and faces third-seeded Boise State.
The Bulldogs enter the tournament with home-court advantage and momentum after sweeping their final homestand of the regular season.
Legans, who was honored before the game, hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 25 points. But the difference was the production of center Mustafa Al-Sayyad, who also had a career-best 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
While Sensley hit nine of 10 shots from the field, none of the other UH players reached double figures.
"They couldn't stop (Sensley), but then we had no one to go with him," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "One man can't beat two and that's what happened tonight."
Said Legans: "Julian played great tonight and that got me fired up. It was exciting to play against him."
In what has become a recurring theme on the road, Hawaii went cold from the field in the first half and trailed by as many as 16. Like their previous two road contests, the Rainbows rallied in the second and cut the deficit to three, only to fall short in the end.
"It's like a broken record," Wallace said. "We don't get started and we don't hit shots in the first half. In the second half you come out and play your butt off."
Hawaii went without a field goal for a six-minute stretch in the first half, allowing Fresno State to take control.
The Bulldogs hit three 3-pointers in a row, two by Legans and another by Dreike Bouldin, to spark a 19-5 run that gave Fresno State a 34-18 lead.
Fresno State's big men set up an obstacle course of screens to pop Legans open and the senior capitalized by hitting four from long distance in the first half.
"I should have known where he was going," UH point guard Logan Lee said. "If I would have played a little smarter, played a little quicker I would have been there. It's just a matter of knowing what to do and then doing it."
Said Wallace: "He just took over in that stretch. And he hits shots when he's open. He is the best point guard in the league."
Hawaii, conversely, missed its first nine 3-point attempts of the game.
Sensley broke the 3-point drought by hitting one from the left wing with 15:16 left in the game. A foul was called on Fresno State on the play, giving possession back to UH. Michael Kuebler then floated a lob to Sensley for a dunk. On UH's next possession Sensley drained another jumper to cut the FSU lead to four at 42-38.
Fresno State pushed the lead back to 10, but Hawaii made another run and a dunk by Sensley off a lob from Lee cut the Bulldogs' lead to 56-53 with 6:50 left.
But Al-Sayyad took over inside and scored Fresno State's next seven points to keep UH at arm's length.
Al-Sayyad made eight of 10 shots both from the field and from the free-throw line. He entered the game shooting 60 percent from the line.
"Tonight he played like the MVP of the league," Legans said.
Kuebler made 1 of 10 shots from 3-point range and scored nine points. It broke his streak of 22 consecutive games scoring in double figures.
The Rainbows take a day off today to rest and regroup before starting preparations for the WAC tournament tomorrow.
"We're in the WAC tournament now and we've got our backs against the wall," Sensley said. "We just need to play 40 minutes of hard basketball."
Final WAC men's standings
Yesterday's results
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Nevada 13 5 .722 20 8 .714 UTEP 13 5 .722 22 6 .786 Boise St. 12 6 .667 20 8 .714 Rice 12 6 .667 21 9 .700 Hawaii 11 7 .611 19 10 .655 Fresno St. 10 8 .556 14 14 .500 Louisiana Tech 8 10 .444 14 14 .500 SMU 5 13 .278 11 17 .393 Tulsa 5 13 .278 9 19 .321 San Jose St. 1 17 .056 6 22 .214
Tulsa 80, Louisiana Tech 70
Boise St. 59, UTEP 45
Rice 71, SMU 66
Fresno St. 69, Hawaii 60
Nevada 74, San Jose St. 45WAC tournament
At Fresno, Calif.
Tuesday
SMUvs. Tulsa, 4 p.m.
Louisiana Tech vs. San Jose St., 6:30 p.m.
Thursday
Nevada vs. Tulsa-SMU winner, 10 a.m.
Rice vs. Hawaii, 12:30 p.m.
UTEP vs. San Jose St.-Louisiana Tech winner, 4 p.m.
Boise St. vs. Fresno St., 6:30 p.m.
Friday
Semifinal games at 4 and 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
Championship game at 4 p.m.
Fresno State 69, Hawaii 60
WARRIORS (19-10, 11-7 wac)
BULLDOGS (14-14, 10-8 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 2 10 0 0 30 3 0 4 Sensley 9 10 4 6 39 7 1 24 Shimonovich 2 6 0 2 17 6 0 4 Lee 4 6 0 0 32 1 5 8 Kuebler 3 16 2 4 38 3 5 9 Sottos 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 Carter 0 3 0 0 8 1 1 0 Peciukas 0 0 2 2 7 0 1 2 Blackett 1 3 2 2 13 0 0 4 Jesinskis 2 5 0 0 14 3 1 4 Team 3 Totals 23 60 11 18 200 27 14 60
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 Adams 1 3 0 0 17 3 2 2 Al-Sayyad 8 10 8 10 36 11 0 24 Bouldin 2 6 0 0 34 6 3 5 Legans 7 13 6 6 40 2 3 25 West 1 4 3 4 24 1 1 5 Marlow 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Butler 0 0 0 0 22 3 2 0 Koffi 2 8 4 4 23 4 4 8 Team 7 Totals 21 44 21 24 200 37 15 69
Halftime -- FSU 38, Hawaii 26
3-point goals -- Hawaii 3-18 (Sensley 2-3, Kuebler 1-10, Sottos 0-1, Lee 0-2, Carter 0-2), FSU 6-15 (Legans 5-11, Bouldin 1-3, West 0-1). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 21, FSU 16. Fouled out -- Shimonovich.
Steals -- Hawaii 10 (Sensley 4, Shimonovich 2, Kuebler 2, Lee, Peciukas), FSU 1 (Bouldin). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 3 (Sensley 2, Blackett), FSU 5 (Al-Sayyad 3, Koffi 2). Turnovers -- Hawaii 6 (Shimonovich 2, Martin, Lee, Kuebler, Jesinskis), FSU 16 (Al-Sayyad 4, Bouldin 4, Adams 3, Legans 2, West 2, Koffi). Officials -- Harrington, Smith, Heimerman. A -- 14,222.
