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Lots of pain amid
many brilliant flashes

THIS one hurt. Maybe this one hurt most of all, none of us really knows. But there it was, last night, a microcosm (meaning: a very small cosm) of the Rainbows' woes all season. Flashes. Flashes, and then, not quite enough. Flashes, and then, falling short at the worst possible time.

Flashes, and then hurt. Flashes, and then frustration and pain.

It's no shame, to play a tough game, then fall just short to a good team like UTEP. No shame in this one. It was a hell of a game.

"Our guys played their hearts out tonight," Riley Wallace would say. "I have no problems with our guys tonight."

But they're still searching. It still hasn't all hit. They're still pieces, on most nights. And it's getting late for moral victories.

Tough Matt Gibson buried his face in a towel at the end.

Flashes.

So now, will they have to play in?

I think they've got it in them. Somewhere. Somehow. This team has an explosion in it yet. You have to believe that.

Don't you?

It's getting harder. Last night made it a lot harder. But I still see flashes.

I can't see this group going through a whole season before it explodes.

This looks like a great team ... next season.

Somehow, in spite of all the mounting evidence, I can't imagine waiting that long.

Perhaps I'm blinded.

Flashes do that.

"We gotta worry about just winning now," Wallace said.

OK. Back against the wall. Maybe that's what will finally do it. Maybe that's what it takes to create alchemy.

Maybe this is another 2001 run.

"It's good experience, I guess going into that WAC Tournament," Jake Sottos said. "Because we know we can play with them."

They can. But last night there were too many second-half chances for UTEP. Too many turnovers. Too many missed shots. Too many great plays, only to give them right back.

Maybe just one too many of any of those.

The Rainbows played so well, last night.

For stretches, so, so well.

Sottos, a jump-shooter, continues to get points going to the hoop. And this was big. This was against his friend and nemesis, Filiberto. (What is Sottos, one of the Three Musketeers? There is nothing cooler than having a friend and nemesis named Filiberto.)

I may be the last in the state to say it, but Jake Sottos is a big-time player.

And then Julian Sensley. The pre-game buzz was how Sensley would handle his stay in the doghouse.

Throw him a bone. He looked pretty good coming off the bench.

"We gave everything we had out there," he said.

Sensley tipped a rebound to himself from behind the backboard, then a reverse layup to put the Rainbows to within one.

Gibson hit a 3. On the bench, Jeff Blackett handed Bob Nash a towel to twirl. The crowd was up. Sensley got a rebound, and the Rainbows got a call.

And then another. And then a one-and-one.

And then with 3:53 to go, Sottos hit a 3 to tie it up.

Then UTEP went on another big run.

What happened?

"Rivera," Wallace said.

Filiberto.

With 1:06 left, Vaidotas Peciukas, under the basket. Good. One point away. UTEP called a timeout. Wallace coughed.

"A couple years ago we lost three, I think it was," Wallace said. "Our fans, they're not used to seeing us lose at home."

Hawaii had a chance, at the end. Deonte Tatum let the pass fly.

"I was looking at Coach, running down," Sensley said.

"The official that was supposed to be in contact with me was not looking," said Wallace, who was calling for a timeout.

"The ball was already in the air," Sensley said. It went off his hands, and it was gone.

So now here they go. It's getting late, and they're still waiting to explode. It has to happen.

Doesn't it?

"We're very close to being a great ball club here," Wallace said.

"We just got to keep fighting," Sottos said.

They sat there, the pain plain on their faces. So close.

"All we can do is look forward," Sensley said.