FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Before a hometown capacity crowd at the Stan Sheriff Center, the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors edged out Nebraska last night, 84-83, to move forward in the National Invitation Tournament. Here, UH's Jeff Blackett did a slam-dunk past the Cornhuskers' Jason Dourisseau.
’Bows hold off Huskers
UH gives up a 17-point lead
but hangs on to beat Nebraska
and advance to face Michigan
Spurred by a raucous "white-out" night crowd, a rejuvenated Hawaii basketball team took a big step toward the Big Apple by pulling out a heart-stopping 84-83 victory over Nebraska last night in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.
HAWAII 84 NEBRASKA 83 NEXT UP
at Michigan, tomorrow
The crowd of 9,451 at the Stan Sheriff Center boosted the Rainbows as UH squandered a 17-point halftime lead but held off the Cornhuskers in the game's final frantic moments.
"For some reason I knew we were going to win," UH forward Julian Sensley said. "We just kept executing, everybody did their role tonight. I just knew we weren't going to lose. Everybody felt that."
Hawaii (21-11), which scored its first win over a Big 12 school since defeating Colorado in 1999, had little time to celebrate as the team boarded a plane last night and will face Michigan, a 63-52 winner over Oklahoma yesterday, in the NIT quarterfinals tomorrow for the right to advance to next week's semifinals in New York.
UH guard Jason Carter punched a hole in a courtside sign in the second half, but it didn't compare to the damage he did on the court in scoring a career-high 21 points and hitting six of seven 3-point shots.
"When JC's in a zone like that, the sky's the limit for him," Sensley said.
Carter had to have stitches after the game to close a cut he suffered on his arm when he put his fist through the sign in frustration after being whistled for a foul, but he didn't let the injury affect his game.
"It shows emotion, the kid's fired up. We don't want him breaking signs but that shows you the kind of heart he has," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "Maybe he'll hit something softer next time."
When Carter went to the bench with four fouls in the second half, UH forward Jeff Blackett stepped up to score the bulk of his 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
"Carter and Blackett just killed us," Nebraska coach Barry Collier said.
Sensley added 13 points and six rebounds, while Michael Kuebler scored 12 points and dished out seven assists. While Carter was on the bench, Logan Lee contributed nine assists.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Julian Sensley went up under the basket for a layup against Nebraska's Tony Wilbrand during last night's second-round NIT game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Nebraska ended its season at 18-13, but not before putting a serious scare into the Rainbows with an 18-2 run to open the second half fueled by the 3-point shooting of 6-foot-11 forward Brian Conklin.
Conklin drained five 3-pointers in the second half and finished with a game-high 24 points. But he misfired down the stretch as the Huskers tried to thwart UH's travel plans.
"We kind of think Brian's 3-pointers are like layups," Collier said. "He's a great shooter. They did a great job of running at him late in the game and he missed some."
In a game that defense forgot, UH shot better than 60 percent from the field for the second straight game and has won its last 34 games when scoring at least 80 points. Nebraska countered by hitting 55 percent of its shots, but fell short at the end.
"It ended up being the game I expected to be in the second half," Wallace said.
The Rainbows took command early as Carter scored 14 first-half points, hitting four shots beyond the 3-point line and throwing down an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Sensley against a Husker team that led the Big 12 in defense.
After going to the bench for a brief spell, Carter re-entered the game and brought the crowd to its feet by slipping a nifty no-look pass to Vaidotas Peciukas for a fastbreak layup and draining another 3-pointer from the right corner to give UH a 40-27 lead.
The Rainbows led 49-32 at halftime, but it took Nebraska less than four minutes to cut its deficit to one as Conklin hit three consecutive 3-pointers to spark the Cornhuskers' run.
The Huskers claimed the lead at 55-54 when Marcus Neal's 3-pointer crawled off the back of the rim and into the net.
Carter and Conklin then engaged in a 3-point shooting duel, with Conklin's fifth and sixth giving the Huskers a 61-60 advantage with 11:50 left.
But Hawaii took off on a 10-0 run and led 72-63 when Blackett drained his third straight jumper.
Nebraska closed to within three on five occasions in the final 5:30, only to see Sensley and Phil Martin hit mid-range jumpers to push the lead back to five.
Kuebler missed four consecutive free throws in the final minute to help Nebraska stay within striking distance. After the fourth bounced out with UH leading 83-80, Neal and Conklin saw 3-pointers rim out before Blackett secured the rebound and was fouled with 3.9 seconds left.
Blackett hit one of two free throws to seal it and Neal managed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to account for the final margin.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii senior guard Jason Carter, who scored a career-high 21 points, drove around Nebraska's Jake Muhleisen.
Hawaii 84, Nebraska 83
Cornhuskers (18-13, 6-10 Big 12)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Johnson 2 6 1 2 29 5 2 6 Neal 4 7 5 7 20 4 3 15 Muhleinsen 3 6 1 1 34 1 2 7 Conklin 9 16 0 1 31 6 1 24 Turek 5 7 1 2 23 4 0 11 Dourisseau 2 3 2 4 17 0 0 6 Richardson 0 0 0 0 8 1 0 0 Wilkinson 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Simms 4 6 0 1 20 4 1 8 Drevo 3 7 0 0 15 1 0 6 Team 1 Totals 32 58 10 18 200 27 9 83
Warriors (21-11, 11-7 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 3 6 1 3 27 4 1 7 Carter 7 8 1 2 17 3 2 21 Shimonovich 0 1 4 6 18 6 1 4 Kuebler 5 12 1 7 37 0 7 12 Sensley 4 8 5 5 33 6 3 13 Sottos 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Zivanovic 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 Lee 1 2 1 2 23 2 9 4 Peciukas 2 2 0 0 7 2 0 4 Nash 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Blackett 7 8 3 6 25 4 1 17 Jesinskis 1 1 0 0 6 1 0 2 Totals 30 49 16 29 200 29 25 84
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 -- Hawaii 49, Nebraska 32
3-point goals -- Nebraska 9-21 (Conklin 6-12, Neal 2-4, Johnson 1-3, Dourisseau 0-1, Drevo 0-1), Hawaii 8-16 (Carter 6-7, Lee 1-2, Kuebler 1-5, Nash 0-1, Sensley 0-1). Personal fouls -- Nebraska 20, Hawaii 19.
Steals -- Nebraska 12 (Conklin 4, Muhleinsen 3, Johnson 2, Neal 2, Dourisseau), Hawaii 7 (Carter 2, Kuebler 2, Peciukas, Sensley, Shimonovich). Blocked shots -- Nebraska 1 (Johnson), Hawaii 2 (Blackett, Shimonovich). Turnovers -- Nebraska 15 (Johnson 5, Muhleinsen 3, Neal 3, Dourisseau, Drevo, Simms, Turek), Hawaii 15 (Shimonovich 5, Lee 3, Carter 2, Kuebler 2, Blackett, Martin, Sensley). Officials -- Christman, Reed, Irving. A -- 10,300.
