’Bows rocked on road

Boise's storm proves too much for the Rainbows

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BOISE, Idaho » Hawaii's icy start coupled with Boise State's hot shooting in the first half added up to a lopsided road loss for the Rainbow Warriors last night.

Boise St.    Hawaii 95 80 NEXT UP at Idaho tomorrow

The Rainbows fell behind 20-7 less than 12 minutes into the game and trailed by as many as 31 on the way to a 95-80 loss to the Broncos at Taco Bell Arena.

Hawaii enters tomorrow's game at Idaho at 7-11 overall and 3-3 in Western Athletic Conference play, good for fifth place in the league standings. Boise State (14-5, 5-2) moved into second place with the win.

Boise State guard Matt Bauscher scored 16 of his 21 points before the break. Bauscher was 6-for-7 from the field -- draining all five 3-point attempts -- and 4-for-6 from the free-throw line in the game.

The Broncos, the WAC's highest-scoring team, hit 14 of 22 3-point shots and outrebounded the Rainbows 45-27.

UH guard Matt Gibson led all scorers with 26 points and the Rainbows posted 58 second-half points. But the outcome was decided in a first half in which the Broncos shot 57.7 percent from the field to UH's 30.8 in taking a 47-22 lead.

The Rainbows will next face an Idaho team that scored a 74-63 win over San Jose State last night to improve to 5-13 and 2-5. The Vandals had managed just one win in each of its first two years of WAC membership.

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BOISE, Idaho » The Hawaii basketball team knew it needed to slow the game down to have a chance to compete with Boise State, the WAC's highest-scoring team.

So what did the Rainbow Warriors do last night in Taco Bell Arena? They took quick shots and didn't rebound, which allowed the game to be played at the Broncos' pace.

The result was predictable -- Boise State rolled to a 95-80 win in front of 4,896 fans who braved a blizzard to watch the Broncos win for the sixth time in their past eight games.

"We didn't try to run with them -- we just took quick shots and that's not the game plan we established," Hawaii guard Matt Gibson said. "I can't knock our shooters -- they were good, open shots. But the point was to establish our inside game and run the clock down and draw some fouls early and keep the game at a slow pace.

"We didn't do that."

Hawaii (7-11 overall, 3-3 WAC) never led in the game and the only time the score was tied was at 0-0. The Broncos built leads as large as 31 points in the second half. Hawaii outscored the Broncos 24-8 in the final 6 minutes, 19 seconds to make the final score look closer than the game really was.

"Coach emphasized no letdowns and making a statement at home," said Boise State senior Matt Bauscher, who scored a team-high 21 points and had a game-high eight assists. "We haven't really played two halves at home all year. I think, despite the last 5 minutes of the game, we owned them from start to finish."

Boise State (14-5, 5-2) entered the game leading the nation in field-goal percentage and made 57.7 percent of its shots in the first half, when it took a 47-22 lead.

The Rainbows made only eight of 26 shots in the first half (30.8 percent) and turned the ball over 10 times.

"They came out hot and we were leaving them open," Hawaii guard Riley Luettgerodt said. "And we weren't hitting anything. Again, for us to play with them, we couldn't get into a running game with them here."

Boise State scored 10 fast-break points compared to two for Hawaii and turned 14 Hawaii turnovers into 17 points.

Hawaii didn't get closer than 20 points in the second half until the final Gibson trey with 2:24 to play.

Gibson finished with a game-high 26 points, with 18 coming in the second half. Three other Hawaii players reached double figures -- Luettgerodt had nine of his 14 in the second half, and Bobby Nash scored all of his 13 points in the second half. The coach's son hit a half-court shot as time expired. Kareem Nitoto scored 10 points off the bench.

Despite the lopsided loss and never being able to threaten the Broncos, coach Bob Nash did see some positives in the second half from his club.

"It wasn't perfect, but they did some good things and showed desire," Nash said. "We came back and battled and battled and battled. The hill was too high for us to climb. It was too much of a deficit."

The Broncos made 14 of 22 shots from 3-point range, including 5-for-5 from Bauscher and 3-for-4 from Tyler Tiedeman (17 points.)

Matt Nelson finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for BSU, which outrebounded the Rainbows 45-27.

"They're a very good basketball team, and I'll just leave it at that," Nash said. "We couldn't make a shot and got in too deep of a hole."

Hawaii now travels to Idaho, which defeated San Jose State 74-63 last night. The Rainbows are hoping their scheduled flight from Boise to Lewiston won't be canceled or delayed because of the winter weather.

"We need to forget about this one," Luettgerodt said. "It's a must win. We need to think about all the stuff we did wrong."