Tulsa's Brett McDade, left, and Hawaii's Deonte Tatum battled for a rebound during the first half of last night's game.
UH whitewashes Tulsa
Sottos and Senley lead the second-
half charge as Hawaii rallies
past Tulsa
With the Hawaii basketball team trailing last-place Tulsa by 12 in the early moments of the second half last night, Rainbow Warrior head coach Riley Wallace called a timeout to voice his opinion of his team's performance.
"That huddle was pretty fun," UH guard Jake Sottos deadpanned after the game. "He said we came out lazy and weren't ready and we had to step it up another level."
Sottos and forward Julian Sensley did exactly that in scoring 37 of the Rainbows' 46 second-half points to lead UH past a stubborn Tulsa team 76-73 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The "White Out" night crowd of 6,244 watched Sottos score a career-high 25 points, 23 coming after halftime. Sensley, meanwhile, posted 14 of his 21 in the second half and grabbed eight rebounds.
Sottos hit five 3-pointers in the second half, and Sensley made three from long range. Both connected on nine of 16 shots from the field in the game.
"I told (UH forward) Jeff Blackett at halftime, 'I'm about to take over the second half,' " Sensley said. "I just took it upon myself to be more aggressive. It's a personal thing I know I need to do and I know my teammates look for me to do."
It took just about all of those points for UH to avoid becoming the last victim on a day of upsets in the Western Athletic Conference.
Three WAC frontrunners had lost to teams beneath them in the standings earlier in the day and Tulsa nearly pulled off a fourth upset, building a double-digit lead early in the second half.
But Sensley and Sottos sparked a comeback and UH (12-5, 4-5 WAC) held on down the stretch to move to within three games of the conference leaders.
"It's up for grabs now and we're back in the chase," Sensley said.
Tulsa (4-14, 1-8) lost its last five games in Honolulu as a WAC member. The Golden Hurricane join Conference USA next season.
The Hurricane outrebounded UH 38-35, but the Rainbows made the most of their 14 offensive rebounds as UH built its comeback on second-chance points.
"We can't let them get offensive rebounds," Tulsa interim head coach Alvin "Pooh" Williamson said. "We played some good first-shot defense, but we had poor rebounding and you can't let them miss, rebound and score.
"We put ourselves in position to win, but we've got to learn how to finish games."
Tulsa center Anthony Price led the Hurricane with 23 points and forward Jarius Glenn had 15. Forward Guilherme Teichmann had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Julian Sensley went 9-for-16 and scored 21 points last night against Tulsa.
Rainbow point guard Deonte Tatum sparked a UH rally with two steals and the Rainbows used an 8-0 spurt to close to within three, 29-26, with 3 minutes left.
"Tonight my star of the game is Deonte Tatum," Wallace said. "He came in and picked us up defensively. ... He ignited us and got us back in it."
Glenn hit a baseline jumper just before the buzzer and Tulsa scored the first six points of the second half to reclaim a 12-point lead at 42-30, prompting Wallace to call a timeout.
"That timeout got them going," Wallace said.
Sensley and Sottos then took over, accounting for UH's first 26 points of the second half.
The duo sparked an 18-2 UH run that vaulted the Rainbows to a 48-44 lead.
Sensley opened the spurt by knocking down a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer from the right wing. Sottos then found his range, draining three from long distance. His second trey put UH in front 43-42 at the 15:54 mark.
Sensley thrilled the crowd by soaring for a one-handed dunk off a lob from Tatum.
Glenn picked up his fourth foul with 11:48 left when Chris Botez stepped in front of him to take a charge.
Tulsa refused to fold, tying the game at 51 with a Price hook shot, and stayed within striking distance.
Tulsa closed to 71-67 with 1:56 left, but the Rainbows regained a comfortable lead with a layup by Jeff Blackett and two Sottos free throws.
Up next: The Rainbows have a short break before embarking on a three-game road trip that starts with a game against a suddenly hot San Jose State team on Saturday. SJSU swept its homestand last week, winning back-to-back conference games for the first time since 2002.
The 'Bows continue on to Louisiana Tech and SMU next week.
Marathon effort: Dr. Jim Barahal, president of the Honolulu Marathon Association, presented UH athletic director Herman Frazier with a $10,000 donation to the UH Foundation during last night's game. It's the second straight year the marathon has made such a donation to UH.
WAC Basketball standings
WAC Overall W L Pct. GB W L UTEP 7 2 .778 -- 17 4 Nevada 7 2 .778 -- 14 5 Fresno State 6 3 .667 1 12 6 Rice 5 4 .556 2 10 7 Louisiana Tech 5 4 .556 2 10 8 Hawaii 4 5 .444 3 12 5 SMU 4 5 .444 3 9 8 Boise State 3 6 .333 4 9 11 San Jose State 3 6 .333 4 6 12 Tulsa 1 8 .111 6 4 14 Yesterday
Hawaii 76, Tulsa 73
Fresno State 66, Nevada 63
SMU 78, Boise St. 69
Louisiana Tech 80, UTEP 65
San Jose St. 90, Rice 85Hawaii 76, Tulsa 73
Golden Hurricane (4-14, 1-8 wac) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp James 3 4 0 0 18 0 4 7 Glenn 6 14 3 5 33 3 3 15 McDade 3 5 1 1 26 2 1 8 Teichmann 4 8 1 3 34 12 2 10 Price 11 18 1 2 35 8 0 23 Wallace 1 3 1 1 32 5 2 3 Collins 2 6 1 1 11 0 0 5 Gonzalez 1 2 0 0 11 4 1 2 Team 4 Totals 31 60 8 13 200 38 13 73 Rainbow Warriors (12-5, 4-5 wac) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Gibson 1 2 0 0 10 2 1 2 Sottos 9 16 2 2 33 2 3 25 Blackett 3 12 3 5 30 5 5 9 Sensley 9 16 0 1 40 8 4 21 Botez 2 3 0 0 21 2 0 4 Gipson 1 4 2 2 24 8 2 4 Peciukas 1 1 1 2 5 0 1 3 Tatum 1 4 1 2 16 3 2 3 Nash 2 6 0 0 21 3 3 5 Team 2 Totals 29 64 9 14 200 35 21 76 Key -- fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime -- Tulsa 36, Hawaii 30.
3-point goals -- Tulsa 3-13 (McDade 1-2, Teichmann 1-2, James 1-1, Glenn 0-2, Wallace 0-2, Collins 0-4), Hawaii 9-20 (Sottos 5-11, Sensley 3-5, Nash 1-3, Tatum 0-1). Personal fouls -- Tulsa 16, Hawaii 17. Fouled out -- None. Technical fouls--None.
Steals -- Tulsa 4 (Teichmann 2, Collins, Glenn), Hawaii 10 (Botez 2, Sottos 2, Tatum 2, Blackett, Gibson, Nash, Sensley). Blocked shots -- Tulsa 5 (Teichmann 4, Gonzalez), Hawaii 6 (Gipson 4, Sensley 2). Turnovers -- Tulsa 16 (McDade 4, Price 4, James 3, Glenn 2, Collins, Teichmann, Wallace), Hawaii 8 (Gipson 3, Sensley 2, Nash, Peciukas, Tatum). Officials -- Kaster Ferrie, Stith. Attendance--7,801
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