ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii's Matt Gibson blocked a shot attempt by San Jose State's Donta Watson during yesterday's game.

UH nabs a road win

Once Matt Gibson stopped worrying about his jump shot, the Hawaii guard started filling up the net again.

Gibson, who had scored 12 points over UH's previous four games, hit five 3-pointers and scored a career-high 23 points as the Rainbow Warriors earned an 84-73 road win over San Jose State yesterday at The Event Center.

"I've been shooting pretty bad and it was starting to become more than a shooting problem; it was starting to become a mind-set," Gibson said. "Once I took all the focus off my shooting and put it into defense and all the other things, then my shooting came back around."

Gibson's performance was part of a balanced UH attack as the Rainbows overcame SJSU forward Marquin Chandler's 32 points to pick up their first Western Athletic Conference road win of the season.

UH (13-5, 5-5) enjoyed one of its best shooting days of the season to win its third straight and end an eight-game losing streak in WAC regular-season road games dating back to last season.

The Rainbows shot 57.7 percent from the field -- 65.2 percent in the second half -- in matching their highest point total of the season. UH's hit a season-high 13 3-point buckets, one short of the school record for a game.

UH guard Jake Sottos scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half as UH opened up an early lead, and Gibson hit for 19 after the break to hold off a Spartans rally. Forward Julian Sensley turned in a strong all-around performance, finishing with 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Sottos and Gibson hit five 3-pointers each, while Sensley added three.

"You had two guards that were hot -- Sottos in the first half and Gibson in the second half -- and Julian both halves," Wallace said. "They played well together, made the extra pass, and we outrebounded them.

"We hit big buckets and answered the call every time."

After Gibson recorded double-figure points in nine consecutive games, his scoring touch eluded him during a four-game stretch in which he was 3-for-20 from the field and 1-for-7 beyond the arc. But he found his range again in the second half of yesterday's game.

"It's always good to knock down a few shots and have everybody behind you. Just to have people keep telling you to shoot no matter what happens," Gibson said. "Shooters have to shoot their way out of a slump, so hopefully it'll carry over."

Chandler broke the 30-point mark for the second consecutive game for SJSU (6-13, 3-6), but only one other Spartan reached double figures -- Kareem Guilbeaux with 10.

Chandler made 12 of 18 shots from the field, including all five of his attempts beyond the 3-point line, and SJSU shot 50 percent as a team. But it wasn't enough to keep UH from opening its three-game road trip with a much-needed win.

"It was his night, but we were able to stay together and play as a team and that shows when you get 22 assists," Wallace said.

Sottos and Sensley combined to drain five 3-pointers in the game's first 10 minutes to fuel a 12-2 run that gave the Rainbows control early. UH ended the half on a 9-0 spurt to go into halftime up 38-26.

"Coach wanted us to jump on them so they didn't get any momentum," Sottos said. "They were on their home court, and when they get that confidence they're hard to stop."

Gibson hit three 3-pointers in the first 4 minutes of the second half to help UH build an 18-point lead. But SJSU went on a 17-2 run and closed to within three with about 10 minutes remaining on a layup by Guilbeaux.

Sensley then took over, feeding Matthew Gipson for a dunk and scoring UH's next seven points. He hit a 3-pointer, finished a fast break with a one-handed slam, and hit a jumper with a second left on the shot clock to give UH a 65-57 advantage with 7:18 left.

SJSU hung close and was within six when Gibson hit two more 3s and was credited with another basket when Chandler was called for goaltending, giving the Rainbows command at 75-63 with 2:08 left.

"It adds something to us to hit big 3s," Wallace said. "Earlier in the year we didn't do that; now we're doing it in games. Maybe we're growing up."

The Rainbows finished the game by hitting nine of 10 free throws in the final 1:10.

"We came out and played two halves like we wanted to play," Sottos said. "They had a spurt and we lost our focus, but we got it back and played well and finished the game."

The Rainbows head to Shreveport, La., today and will stay there until Wednesday. They'll then go to Ruston for Thursday's game at Louisiana Tech. They conclude the road trip Saturday in Dallas against Southern Methodist.

WAC standings

	WAC				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Nevada	9	2	.800	--	16	5
UTEP	8	3	.700	1	18	5
Fresno State	7	4	.600	2	13	7
Rice	6	5	.600	3	11	8
Louisiana Tech	6	5	.600	3	11	9
Hawaii	5	5	.500	3 1/2	13	5
SMU	4	7	.400	5	9	10
San Jose State	3	7	.333	5 1/2	6	13
Boise State	3	8	.300	5	9	13
Tulsa	3	8	.200	6	6	14

Yesterday
Hawaii 84, San Jose State 73
Fresno State 71, SMU 70
Nevada 76, Louisiana Tech 58
Tulsa 76, Boise State 63
UTEP 73, Rice 71

Hawaii 84, San Jose State 73

Warriors (13-5, 5-5 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Blackett	3	6	2	3	37	6	5	8
Sensley	7	11	5	6	38	8	6	22
Botez	3	6	0	0	23	4	0	6
Gibson	8	13	2	2	35	2	3	23
Sottos	6	9	0	0	31	3	3	17
Gipson	2	3	2	3	18	6	3	6
Peciukas	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	0
Tatum	0	1	0	0	5	0	0	0
Nash	1	3	0	0	11	2	1	2
Totals	30	52	11	14	200	32	22	84
Spartans (6-13, 3-7 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Elam	2	4	0	0	30	3	2	5
Chandler	12	18	3	7	40	6	0	32
Misko	3	5	0	0	25	4	1	6
Watson	3	11	1	1	40	4	7	7
Bloom	2	3	0	0	15	3	0	6
Guilbeaux	5	6	0	1	19	4	0	10
McFadden	2	11	2	2	31	0	3	7
Team						1
Totals	29	58	6	11	200	25	13	73

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 -- Hawaii 38, San Jose State 26.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 13-24 (Gibson 5-8, Sottos 5-8, Sensley 3-6, Nash 0-2), San Jose State 9-20 (Chandler 5-5, Bloom 2-3, Elam 1-3, McFadden 1-5, Watson 0-4). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 14, San Jose State 17. Fouled out -- Elam. Technical fouls-- Gibson, Elam.
Steals -- Hawaii 3 (Gibson 2, Botez), San Jose State 6 (McFadden 2, Chandler, Elam, Guilbeaux, Misko). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 4 (Blackett, Gibson, Gipson, Sensley), San Jose State 0. Turnovers -- Hawaii 16 (Sensley 6, Blackett 2, Gipson 2, Sottos 2, Gibson, Peciukas, Tatum, Team), San Jose State 14 (Chandler 5, Elam 3, McFadden 2, Bloom, Guilbeaux, Misko, Watson). Officials -- Hernandez, Collela, Stevens. Attendance-- 1,443.