WARRIOR BASKETBALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii guard Matt Gibson drove the lane against San Diego yesterday. Gibson scored six points on 3-for-11 shooting.
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San Diego finishes sweep of Rainbows
By Hank Wesch
Special to the Star-Bulletin
SAN DIEGO » Twenty-three days and four games removed from a one-point loss to the University of San Diego in Honolulu, the University of Hawaii men's basketball team had an opportunity to administer payback here yesterday.
But instead of payback, the Rainbow Warriors paid the price of misfortune and mistakes and absorbed their second-worst defeat of the season, 81-67, before 1,921 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
USD (4-5) put together runs of 22-4 and 15-2 from 4 minutes into the game until 4 minutes remained before halftime and led 49-33 at the break. USD's biggest second-half lead was 23 points, and Hawaii (2-4) couldn't get closer than 10 before the buzzer.
Senior forward Stephen Verwers had a career-high 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor and 3-for-6 from the free-throw line and senior guard Bobby Nash also had 15 for Hawaii.
But the Bows' second trip to the mainland before the start of Western Athletic Conference play had a similar feel to the earlier one in New Mexico in which one bad half – the first yesterday, the second in Albuquerque – proved their undoing.
"We came out and played really well at first, but then we let it fall off after a few quick fouls," said Verwers, whose previous high was 11 points in the season opener against San Diego.
"They're a good team, they fought real well both games," Verwers said. "The biggest difference (yesterday) was that they were knocking down their shots real well in the first half."
Junior point guard Brandon Johnson, who led the Toreros with 25 points, cashed three 3-pointers to spark USD's initial, substantial run. The second run was fueled by USD rebounding Hawaii misses and beating the Rainbows downcourt for transition scores.
USD shot 61 percent for the first half, 57.1 for the game to 32.4 in the first half for Hawaii and 39.7 for the game.
"For the most part we did a better job taking away their 3-point shots than we did the first time we played them," said USD coach Bill Grier. "And over there we gave them 18 offensive rebounds. They didn't have (senior guard Matt) Gibson when we played them over there and maybe they were a little out of synch, but the bottom line today was we played pretty good defense."
Gibson, who had 18 points in 26 minutes in his season debut on Tuesday against Coppin State, was held to six on 3-for-11 shooting yesterday, which included 0-for-6 from behind the 3-point arc. Bobby Nash's effectiveness was also limited by a combination of USD's defense and foul trouble.
Nash had two fouls 2:12 into the game and played only 5 minutes in the first half.
"You have to make adjustments. They called two early fouls on (Bobby Nash) and we had to take him out of the game and change the lineup," Hawaii coach Bob Nash said. "We didn't do the things we needed to do, got down and we gave ourselves too much ground to try to recover."
Bobby Nash scored 10 points in the second half, Verwers 11. Nash's seven rebounds were the team high as Hawaii outboarded San Diego 35-33. It was about the only positive statistic and no consolation to the head coach.
"I don't take any positives out of getting our ass kicked," Bob Nash said. "There aren't any positives. There's no excuses, no attitude, we just went on the road and didn't get the job done. It's as simple as that.
"When you're on the road you've got to give the effort for a full 40 (minutes) and that didn't happen tonight. I give full credit to San Diego – they were the better team."
The necessity of a full 40 minutes of effort was the lesson to be learned, Verwers said.
"It was good the way our guys came back and fought hard in the second half," Verwers said. "But we have to play better in the (early part of games) and not get ourselves in that position. Especially on the road, and against good teams like that, we can't allow ourselves to get down by 20 points."
San Diego 81, Hawaii 67
Rainbow Warriors (2-4)
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|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Luettgerodt |
5 |
11 |
2 |
3 |
40 |
4 |
2 |
14
|
Amis |
1 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
19 |
4 |
0 |
2
|
Verwers |
6 |
12 |
3 |
6 |
28 |
4 |
0 |
15
|
Gibson |
3 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
33 |
1 |
5 |
6
|
Nash |
5 |
13 |
3 |
3 |
25 |
7 |
2 |
15
|
Nitoto |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Dillinger |
4 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
34 |
4 |
3 |
11
|
Campbell |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
2
|
Owsley |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
2
|
Team |
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
Totals |
25 |
63 |
10 |
14 |
200 |
35 |
12 |
67 |
Torero (4-5)
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|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Murdock |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
21 |
3 |
5 |
4
|
Pomare |
5 |
10 |
8 |
9 |
30 |
8 |
0 |
18
|
Jones |
3 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
21 |
1 |
0 |
7
|
Johnson, B. |
10 |
16 |
1 |
2 |
35 |
2 |
4 |
25
|
Jackson |
2 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
25 |
1 |
1 |
7
|
Johnson, T. |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
4 |
2
|
Lewis |
3 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
20 |
10 |
0 |
10
|
Brown |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
1 |
6
|
Lozeau |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
3 |
0 |
2
|
Team |
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
Totals |
28 |
49 |
18 |
28 |
200 |
33 |
15 |
81 |
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 – San Diego 49, Hawaii 33.
3-point goals – Hawaii 7-20 (Dillinger 3-4, Luettgerodt 2-3, Nash 2-6, Nitoto 0-1, Gibson 0-6), San Diego 7-12 (Johnson, B. 4-7, Brown 2-4, Lewis 1-1). Personal fouls – Hawaii 20, San Diego 19.
Steals – Hawaii 2 (Gibson), San Diego 7 (Lewis 2, Murdock, Johnson, B., Jackson, Johnson, T., Brown). Blocked shots – Hawaii 4 (Verwers 2, Owsley 2), Hawaii 5 (Pomare 2, Jones 2, Jackson). Turnovers – Hawaii 13 (Amis 4, Gibson 4, Luettgerodt 2, Verwers 2, Nitoto), San Diego 12 (Pomare 2, Jones 2, Jackson 2, Lewis 2, Johnson, B., Johnson T., Brown, Lozeau).
Officials – Thomas Wood, Michael Eggers, Jim Giron. A– 1,921.