FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH's Phil Martin put up a shot during the second half last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Martin makes up
for miss
Riley Wallace and Phil Martin have a long history.
If they did not, that's exactly what Hawaii's basketball season might be today -- history.
But the UH coach stayed with his veteran during crunch time last night, and Martin made two big baskets to help the Rainbow Warriors advance to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. UH held off Nebraska 84-83 at a rollicking Stan Sheriff Center.
"If Phil hadn't been with me four years, he probably would've been benched. But I know what he can do and I'm not down on him," Wallace said. "He hit a big-time jumper and got that layup inside. He came through for us."
Yes, this really was UH's last home game. But Martin helped the Rainbows extend their season yet again, and to a place few of them have been before -- except Martin.
UH left last night for Ann Arbor, Mich., home of the storied Wolverines program, the school that the rest of the nation associates with the words "Fabulous Five."
"I know I've been to Michigan," Martin said. "And I know it's just three or four hours' drive (from his home in Hamilton). And I have family in Windsor, which is even closer. So I think we'll have a few fans. They've followed us to other places farther away, so at least some of them will be there."
Wallace wishes he could have packed up last night's crowd and taken it with him. This white-clad, full-house of 9,451 was nearly as loud as the fans who blasted each other's eardrums during UH's upset of Kansas in 1997.
Wallace said they were the difference.
"It was the game," Wallace said. "No question."
Of course, Jason Carter's 21 points and Jeff Blackett's 17, coming on 7-for-8 shooting from the field by both, had something to do with it, too.
And while Martin's contributions -- seven points, four rebounds -- were comparably fewer, they were important.
It was his slam dunk that served as the tourniquet to Nebraska's 13-point run early in the second half when the Huskers threatened to take the lead after trailing by 17 at intermission.
Nebraska did briefly go in front, but the Rainbows retook the lead. The Huskers hung close though, as John Turek -- for the most part, Martin's responsibility -- asserted himself for three close-in baskets after early foul trouble.
Martin prevailed in the end, though.
His reverse layup with 1:33 left made it 81-76. Then he hit an 18-footer with 49 seconds remaining, giving the Rainbows some oxygen at 83-78.
"I was just trying to get open, do what I could," Martin said. "I got a good cut (for the layup) and I haven't been shooting (from outside) much, but I felt comfortable with that one."
UH almost bumbled it away at the end, missing three of four free throws, but Blackett finally made one that proved the difference.
For Martin, it chased a ghost and what would have been an unfair legacy. The guy who started his 102nd consecutive game last night came close to being remembered for what happened at the end of No. 100, 11 days ago, when his missed chippie at the buzzer knocked UH out of the WAC Tournament.
"It hurt for a while, but it didn't take long to get over it," Martin said. "It helped for us to get into the NIT. We're getting that per diem, and the per diem gets bigger when we get to New York."
"Tonight," Carter said, "Phil made up for what happened in the Rice game."
In a sense, this is all gravy for the Rainbows.
"We're not supposed to be here, as you know," Wallace said.
And maybe Phil Martin wasn't supposed to be in the game at the end. But because he was, Hawaii's unexpected hana hou didn't go flat.
