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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Aaron Gibson went to the hoop in last night's victory over Long Beach State. Gibson scored 15 for the 'Bows.

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Rainbows
find a way

UH nearly squanders an
18-point lead, but hangs on
to defeat Long Beach State

The Hawaii basketball team survived a second-half snooze last night to avoid an early wake-up call tomorrow morning.

A crowd of 5,751 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Warriors nearly squander an 18-point lead against Long Beach State. But UH managed to scrape out a 54-45 win over the 49ers in the opening round of the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic.

A loss last night would have meant playing a consolation game at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

"It was an ugly one, but it was a win," UH forward Jeff Blackett said.

UH guard Matt Gibson came off the bench to lead the Rainbows with 15 points, while Blackett added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Julian Sensley contributed nine points and seven rebounds.

UH, which shot 28 percent from the field, saw a 34-16 advantage cut to two in the second half. But the 'Bows hung on to improve to 6-0 for the first time since the 1973-74 season.

"Thank goodness for defense," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "We held them to 45, didn't turn the ball over and did a good job of rebounding in the second half.

"We'll take it any way we can get it."

The Rainbows' win sets up a matchup of unbeaten teams in tomorrow's second semifinal game as UH will face Oral Roberts (8-0) tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Long Beach State fell to 1-6 and faces Georgetown in the consolation round.

LBSU guard Shawn Hawkins was the only 49er in double figures, finishing with 10 points.

"They scored 45 and they average 69, so I would say we did our job on defense," Gibson said.

Hawaii led 26-16 after an ugly first half in which the teams combined to shoot 16-for-67 from the field.

LBSU had twice as many turnovers (14) as made baskets (seven) and UH was only slightly better, shooting 24 percent from the floor. The 'Bows were able to hit six of 11 free throws to hold off the 49ers.

"Our turnovers and their foul shots in the first half were key," Long Beach State coach Larry Reynolds said. "We didn't take care of the basketball and that killed us."

UH opened up a 10-point advantage in the first half, thanks to a 7-0 run. Matthew Gipson triggered the spurt with a 3-pointer from the left side and ended it by coming up with a steal and feeding Gibson for a breakaway layup to give UH a 19-9 lead.

The Rainbows hit their first four shots of the second half to open up a 34-16 cushion on Blackett's baseline jumper.

UH then went 7 minutes without scoring and LBSU went on a 15-1 run, cutting the deficit to 36-31 on Chris Jenkins' 3-pointer with 9:55 left.

A free-throw line jumper by Gibson at the 8:40 mark, ended a 9-minute dry spell for UH from the floor. But LBSU crept closer as Kevin Houston drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to bring the 49ers back to within a bucket at 38-36.

Hawaii took the lid off the basket and scored the next seven points to regain a semblance of control only to see the 49ers close to 50-45 with 2:22 left.

But LBSU would get no closer as Gibson hit four free throws in the final minute to give UH some breathing room down the stretch.

"Finding different ways to win is the sign of a good team, you have a bad night and still win," Wallace said.

Oral Roberts 81, Georgetown 63: ORU forward Caleb Green scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half and guard Luke Spencer-Gardner added a season-high 25 to send the undefeated Golden Eagles (8-0) into tomorrow's semifinal round.

ORU coach Scott Sutton said the win over the Hoyas (4-3) of the Big East was the Eagles' most complete performance of the season.

"This was the best team we played and this was the best we've played," Sutton said.

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Hawaii 54, Long Beach St. 45

49ERS (1-6, 0-1 RAINBOW CLASSIC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Hodges	3	8	2	2	27	2	3	9
Hawkins	4	12	0	0	27	5	4	10
Pearson	1	3	0	0	25	5	1	2
Coleman	2	8	0	0	22	5	0	5
Byrd	2	4	0	0	24	5	0	4
Ibekwe	1	6	1	1	18	6	2	3
Darby	0	3	0	0	7	2	0	0
Kindred	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	0
Houston	1	6	0	0	21	0	3	3
Bryant	0	1	0	0	5	1	0	0
Free	2	3	0	0	5	2	0	4
Jenkins	2	5	0	0	16	1	0	5
TEAM						4
Totals	18	59	3	3	200	39	13	45

WARRIORS (6-0, 1-0 RAINBOW CLASSIC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Tatum	2	7	1	2	25	3	1	5
Nash	0	7	0	1	25	6	1	0
Blackett	6	16	0	0	36	10	1	12
Sensley	3	12	3	5	37	7	2	9
Botez	1	6	3	6	22	7	2	5
Gibson	4	9	7	8	22	3	1	15
Sottos	0	1	0	0	4	1	0	0
Gipson	1	3	0	2	9	4	0	3
Groce	1	3	0	0	8	0	0	3
Zivanovic	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Peciukas	0	0	2	4	11	1	0	2
TEAM						6
Totals	18	64	16	28	200	48	8	54

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 26, LBSU 16.
3-point goals--LBSU 6-20 (Hawkins 2-5, Houston 1-2, Jenkins 1-2, Coleman 1-5, Hodges 1-6) Hawaii 2-17 (Gipson 1-2, Groce 1-3, Sensley 0-3, Gibson 0-4, Nash 0-5). Personal fouls--LBSU 18, Hawaii 11.
Steals--LBSU 1 (Hawkins), Hawaii 5 (Nash 2, Blackett, Botez, Gibson). Blocked shots--LBSU 8 (Coleman 4, Byrd 2, Jenkins 2), Hawaii 8 (Botez 4, Tatum 2, Sensley, Gipson). Turnovers--LBSU 18 (Hawkins 4, Houston 3, Hodges 2, Coleman 2, Byrd 2, Pearson, Ibekwe, Darby, Bryant, Free), Hawaii 8 (Sensley 3, Nash 2, Blackett 2, Botez). Officials--Ron Zetcher, Bryan Barr, Bert Smith. Attendance--5,751.