Dark night for UH

Hawaii's difficulty away from the Stan Sheriff Center continues with a loss at Utah State

>> See also: 'Bows 'Bracket Bust' with Broncos

LOGAN, Utah » About the only good thing to come out of Hawaii's 63-52 loss at Utah State last night was that head coach Riley Wallace saved himself a little money by being on hand for the 400th career victory of his longtime friend Stew Morrill.

"I'm happy for his 400th," Wallace said after the Rainbows sixth straight road loss. "I just didn't want it to be against me, you know? But at least by being here I can congratulate him in person and don't have to send him a letter or make a phone call."

UTAH ST. - 63 HAWAII - 52 NEXT UP vs. Idaho, Thursday

Although the Rainbow Warriors (10-8 overall, 4-4 Western Athletic Conference) were blessed with a Hawaii-like starting time due to ESPN's late-night broadcast of their matchup with the Aggies (15-4, 6-2), Hawaii still struggled through another rough start on the road. After scoring the first basket of the game, the Rainbows surrendered an 18-5 run and trailed 36-19 at halftime.

Hawaii did manage to outscore Utah State 33-27 in the second half and pull to within seven points with 9:45 left in the game, but back-to-back 3-pointers from USU guard Jaycee Carroll got the Aggies and their raucous crowd of 9,540 going again.

"Those were two big ones right there," UH guard Deonte Tatum said of Carroll's twin treys. "We were on a roll. I mean, we had 'em where we wanted 'em when we cut it to seven, so when they hit those two 3s it was huge.

"It was kind of hard to recover after that."

Hawaii's 52 points matched its lowest output of the season (the 'Bows also scored 52 in a loss at Wisconsin-Milwaukee), and the Rainbows shot just 38.2 percent from the field and 21.1 percent (4-for-19) from 3-point range. Senior forward Julian Sensley scored 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting, and Tatum (10 points, five of 12 from the field) was the only other UH player to reach double figures.

Junior guard Matt Lojeski, who had scored in double figures in nine straight games, saw that streak come to end by going 1-for-6 from 3-point range and four of 12 from the floor on his way to nine points.

"We just can't find a rhythm in our offense right now," Sensley said. "You know, everybody's kind of struggling. Everyone's a little fatigued. That's not an excuse, but our shots just ain't dropping right now. We've got to find a way to get into our offense."

The Aggies, who have won six straight games and 11 of their last 12, got 19 points and 11 rebounds from senior forward Nate Harris. Harris, who hit just two of nine shots and scored 12 points in USU's 69-59 loss at Honolulu on Dec. 17, went 8-for-15 from the floor in the rematch. Foul trouble by the Rainbows' big men -- forward Matthew Gipson fouled out after logging just 12 minutes of court time, and three other 'Bows ended up with three infractions -- helped open things up inside for USU's leading scorer.

Carroll (13 points) had a relatively quiet night until his two clutch 3s late in the game, and the Aggies got a season-high 11 points from reserve guard Chris Huber, who knocked down three 3-pointers in a 5-minute span in the first half.

"That was kind of unexpected," Wallace admitted. "I know he can shoot it, but he was getting away from Julian and they run so many picks. If you hit one pick, that gives them a two-step difference and they're going to make 'em because they're the best 3-point shooting team in the league."

Utah State's 44 percent shooting wasn't much better than Hawaii's, but the Aggies did go 9-for-19 from beyond the arc. And each of those 3-pointers fired up the large crowd, dominated by students, even more.

"It was nice to see that we had a lot of people stay up," Morrill said. "Our crowd was unbelievable. We've always enjoyed being on TV. Our fans enjoy it, our players enjoy it and they should."

The Aggies, who are 18-2 in their last 20 games broadcast by ESPN, started out the game rather cold offensively, as well. But after hitting just two of its first seven shots, Utah State suddenly got hot from inside and outside and scored 18 of the next 23 points over the next 7 minutes.

Hawaii then scored six straight points on a 3-pointer by Lojeski and a three-point play by Hiram Thompson to trim USU's lead to five points. But Huber's second 3-pointer triggered an 11-2 run by the Aggies that whipped the near-capacity Spectrum crowd into a frenzy.

"That got to us a little bit," Sensley admitted. "They're like a sixth man out there. It's always tough when you've got 8,000 people screaming at you. The crowd was really into it and gave us a hard time."

During a timeout with 3:03 left in the first half, Wallace was assessed a technical foul by a referee across the floor and Carroll knocked down both free throws to stake the home team to a 31-17 advantage.

"I made a gesture coming out of my huddle," Wallace explained while wrapping a hand around his neck. "And he wanted it. He likes television."

Utah State 63, Hawaii 52

RAINBOW WARRIORS (10-8, 4-4 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Gipson	1	2	0	0	12	5	1	2
Sensley	5	13	2	2	38	5	1	14
Gueye	2	5	1	2	40	8	2	5
Lojeski	4	12	0	0	34	3	2	9
Tatum	4	12	2	4	34	5	5	10
Wilder	0	2	0	0	6	0	1	0
Waters	1	2	0	0	3	1	1	3
Thompson	1	1	1	1	6	0	0	3
Botez	3	6	0	0	27	5	1	6
TEAM						3
Totals	21	55	7	9	200	35	14	52

AGGIES (15-4, 6-2 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Harris	8	15	3	4	37	11	2	19
Session	0	0	0	0	15	0	0	0
Matheus	3	5	0	0	30	6	0	6
Pak	1	5	1	3	31	5	6	4
Carroll	4	9	2	3	35	5	3	13
Huber	3	3	2	2	14	0	2	11
Peterson	2	7	0	1	25	2	2	6
Spicer	1	6	2	2	13	1	1	4
TEAM						1
Totals	22	50	10	15	200	31	16	63

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 -- Utah St. 36, Hawaii 19

3-point goals -- Hawaii 4-19 (Sensley 2-6, Waters 1-2, Lojeski 1-6, Gipson 0-1, Wilder 0-1, Tatum 0-3), USU 9-19 (Huber 3-3, Carroll 3-5, Peterson 2-6, Pak 1-4, Spicer 0-1). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 20, USU 14. Fouled out -- Gipson. Technical foul-- Hawaii team.

Steals -- Hawaii 5 (Sensley 2, Gipson, Gueye, Tatum), USU 7 (Spicer 3, Carroll, Harris, Matheus, Pak). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 9 (Gipson 3, Botez 2, Gueye 2, Lojeski 2), USU 2 (Matheus 2). Turnovers -- Hawaii 14 (Sensley 4, Gueye 3, Botez 2, Tatum 2, Gipson, Lojeski, team), USU 11 (Harris 3, Pak 3, Matheus 2, Session 2, Huber). Officials -- David Hall, Scott Thornley, Mark Whitehead. A -- 9,540.

WAC standings

Through January 30

	WAC	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Louisiana Tech	7	1	.875	--	14	7
Utah State	6	2	.750	1	15	4
Nevada	5	3	.625	2	15	5
New Mexico State	4	3	.571	2 1/2	8	10
Hawaii	4	4	.500	3	10	8
Fresno State	4	4	.500	3	11	8
Boise State	3	5	.375	4	10	9
San Jose State	1	5	.167	5	5	14
Idaho	0	7	.000	6 1/2	3	15
Yesterday
Utah St. 63, Hawaii 52
Fresno St. 89, Idaho 54