’Bows zone in

UH switches out of its man defense to fluster and defeat NMSU

In what has become a recurring theme for this year's Hawaii basketball team, the Rainbow Warriors battled back from an early deficit and hung on for a critical 61-56 Western Athletic Conference victory last night over New Mexico State.

HAWAII     NMSU 61 56 NEXT UP Vs. LaTech tomorrow

For the sixth straight game, Hawaii fell behind by double digits in the first half. For the fifth time, the Rainbows came back for the win.

UH forward Julian Sensley scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Rainbows' fourth straight win.

Guard Deonte Tatum sparked UH's rally from a 12-point deficit by scoring all 11 of his points before halftime. Matt Lojeski also had 11 and made four free throws in the final 14 seconds to seal the win.

The three Rainbows played all 40 minutes.

Center Chris Botez played 30 minutes off the bench and gave UH a lift with six points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. The Rainbows outrebounded the smaller Aggies 35-23.

With the Aggies taking apart UH's man-to-man defense on their way to a 12-point lead, the Rainbows switched to a 1-2-2 zone that slowed down NMSU's attack. It helped UH erase the deficit and pull ahead.

"The last two days (in practice) the zone looked good, they had a lot of energy in it," UH coach Riley Wallace said.

"The zone was very effective against them. It kept the penetration down, which sets up the 3s and gets (NMSU forward Tyrone) Nelson involved in the offense."

The win before a crowd of 4,960 at the Stan Sheriff Center moved the Rainbows (17-9, 10-5) into a tie for second place in the WAC with Louisiana Tech and Utah State.

The second seed in next week's Western Athletic Conference tournament will be at stake when UH hosts LaTech (18-11, 10-5) in tomorrow's regular-season finale at the Sheriff Center.

"New Mexico's a strong, aggressive team and likes to push the ball," Botez said. "You go into LaTech that's bigger and physical down low, it's going to be a battle. We just have to play smart and play together like we did tonight."

Nevada (23-5, 12-3) secured the conference title by beating San Jose State yesterday.

NMSU saw a six-game winning streak end and dropped into fifth place, ending the regular season at 15-13 and 10-6 in the WAC.

Nelson led NMSU with 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting, but scored just five points in the second half. Guard Shaun Davis had 14 and forward David Fisher had 12.

"I'm disappointed, but not angry because I thought our guys played extremely hard," NMSU coach Reggie Theus said. "We had our chances, we just did not do the things down the stretch of the game that would allow us to win the game."

NMSU guard Elijah Ingram, the Aggies' second leading scorer (13.3 points per game) and their top assist man (81), didn't suit up for the game due to a hamstring injury suffered last Saturday.

"It changes the whole makeup of our team," Theus said.

NMSU made nine of its first 15 shots from the field and led 23-11 after Kevin Ford's putback at the 11 minute mark of the first half. The Aggies then went 5-for-21 over a 25-minute span and the Rainbows stormed back to take control despite having forwards Matthew Gipson and Ahmet Gueye on the bench with foul trouble.

"We just kept fighting," Sensley said. "We went to that zone because they were beating us off the dribble and the big guys got into foul trouble. It slowed down their shots and we were able to get big rebounds and execute on the other end."

After going down by 12, UH outscored the Aggies 21-6 and took its first lead at 28-27 on a Tatum 3-pointer from the right wing. The zone limited the Aggies to one field goal in the final 11 minutes of the half.

UH freshman guard Dominic Waters, who played the final 8:35 of first half and started the second, popped a trey to give UH an eight-point cushion early in the period.

NMSU closed to within a point at 42-41 on Nelson's driving shot with 10:35 left, but UH responded with a 7-0 run capped by Lojeski's putback.

The Aggies made another push and cut the UH lead to 53-52 on Ford's layup at the 2:34 mark. Botez then answered with a dunk off a no-look feed from Sensley to finish a fast break.

After two NMSU free throws, Sensley scored on a putback and Lojeski made all four of his free throws to put the game away.

Notes: UH's game against LaTech tomorrow has been designated as a "white out" game by the UH athletic department. Tip-off is set for 5:05 p.m. ... Fans attending tomorrow's game also receive free admission to the UH baseball game at 7 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium. ... The WAC champion UH women's swimming and diving team was recognized during a timeout in the first half.

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