Sensley stands up

The Rainbow Warriors forward bounces back from being shut out by scoring a career high

SHUT OUT in his first outing against UNLV this season, Hawaii forward Julian Sensley got payback against the Runnin' Rebels.

HAWAII78 UNLV72 NEXT UP at Wisconsin.-Milwaukee, Saturday

Sensley scored a career-high 28 points as the Rainbow Warriors avenged their loss in Las Vegas two weeks earlier with a 78-72 win last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Sensley, who missed all 11 of his field-goal attempts in the front end of the home-and-home series, hit 10 of 15 shots in the rematch played before a "green-and-white" night crowd of 6,867.

"We were preparing for this all week, and I took it kind of personal, because I'd never not scored a bucket in my career," said Sensley, who was 3-for-4 from 3-point range. "I made it a personal thing to come out and let the baskets come to me and knock them down."

The Rainbows improved to 3-1 in earning a split of the nonconference series. UNLV (2-4), in the midst of a lengthy road trip, dropped its fourth straight.

It wasn't always pretty as the Rainbows and Rebels exchanged 41 turnovers. But Hawaii was able to build a 13-point second-half lead and hold off UNLV in the final minutes.

UH, which hit six of 18 from the line in the first meeting, knocked down 24 of 32 free throws this time around.

"We needed to win a game like that where we had to grind it out," UH coach Riley Wallace said.

"They caused us to turn over too much down the stretch. We made our free throws, but did not play game-winning defense."

UH guard Matt Lojeski contributed 15 points and forward Ahmet Gueye added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Rainbows.

UNLV forward Louis Amundson posted a double-double for the third straight game with 17 points and 12 boards. Still, UH held Amundson under his totals in the first meeting, when he finished with 22 points and 21 rebounds.

"They bullied us last time," Sensley said. "Practice was real physical this past week, more physical than it has been. We took it personal, the big men worked really hard at trying to contain him."

Jason Petrimoulx hit four 3-pointers to finish with 17 points and guard Michael Umeh added 16 for UNLV.

"Our guys fought, but we have to make better decisions," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "We played a little more defense (in Las Vegas). They executed their stuff better."

Hawaii led throughout an often ragged first half and took a 36-31 advantage into intermission. The teams were whistled for 20 fouls and traded 18 turnovers in the half.

Sensley had 11 points before the break and his steal and layup gave UH its biggest lead at 32-21 with 4:46 left. Petrimoulx took a chunk out of the deficit by draining a 3-pointer from the right side while being fouled. He then hit the free throw to complete the four-point play.

The Rebels pulled within three early in the second half before Sensley took over to extend the UH lead.

Sensley's dunk off a drive from the left wing put UH up 45-38. He then fed Matt Lojeski for another slam.

Sensley outscored UNLV 12-6 over a 4-minute span to give UH a 59-46 lead. He nailed two 3-pointers from the right side and made four free throws in the run.

UNLV pulled to within six on a Jo'Van Adams steal and layup with 4 minutes left. But the Rainbows made seven of eight free throws to maintain a nine-point cushion.

Sensley then punctuated his night by driving for a layup and he got fouled in the process. His free throw put UH up 75-66 with 1:12 left. Umeh and Adams hit 3-pointers down the stretch, but the Rebels' comeback attempt fell short.

UH embarks on its second road trip of the season tomorrow and faces Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday. The Rebels head back to Nevada today and complete their odyssey Saturday at Minnesota.

Hawaii 78, UNLV 72

REBELS (2-4)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Adams	4	10	1	2	28	4	4	10
Umeh	6	16	1	2	26	2	2	16
Amundson	5	9	7	11	31	12	0	17
Terry	0	2	0	0	21	0	0	0
Villepigue	3	6	0	0	21	3	0	6
Morgan	1	1	0	0	11	1	0	2
Petrimoulx	5	10	3	3	26	3	4	17
Rougeau	0	0	2	4	16	2	0	2
Johnson	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0
Darger	0	2	0	0	7	1	0	0
Essengue	1	1	0	1	9	3	1	2
TEAM						3
Totals	25	58	14	23	200	34	11	72

RAINBOW WARRIORS (3-1)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Gipson	2	5	1	3	29	7	4	5
Lojeski	4	6	6	6	38	3	3	15
Tatum	3	9	3	4	34	1	0	9
Sensley	10	15	5	6	38	4	4	28
Gueye	3	6	7	9	30	8	2	13
Wilder	1	2	2	2	10	2	1	4
Nash	2	6	0	1	11	1	1	4
Botez	0	0	0	1	10	2	2	0
TEAM						6
Totals	25	49	24	32	200	34	17	78

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 36, UNLV 31

3-point goals -- UNLV 8-18 (Petrimoulx 4-7, Umeh 3-7, Adams 1-3, Terry 0-1), Hawaii 4-12 (Sensley 3-4, Lojeski 1-3, Gipson 0-1, Wilder 0-1, Nash 0-3). Personal fouls -- UNLV 26, Hawaii 21. Fouled out -- Rougeau, Botez.

Steals -- UNLV 11 (Umeh 3, Petrimoulx 3, Adams 2, Amundson 2, Villepigue), Hawaii 9 (Tatum 3, Sensley 3, Gipson 2, Botez). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 6 (Tatum 2, Botez 2, Gueye, Nash). Turnovers -- UNLV 21 (Petrimoulx 5, Amundson 4, Adams 3, Johnson 3, Terry 2, Villepigue 2, Umeh, Rougeau), Hawaii 20 (Gipson 4, Sensley 4, Wilder 4, Gueye 3, Lojeski 2, Tatum, Nash, Botez). Officials -- Terry Christman, Mike Reed, Larry Spaulding. A -- 6,867.