Akognon goes off on Hawaii
POSTED: Monday, November 17, 2008
It was difficult to tell by Josh Akognon's demeanor that he had just set the Stan Sheriff Center record for points in a Division I men's basketball game.
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The biggest sign of emotion from Akognon, who shredded Hawaii for 41 in Cal State Fullerton's 90-76 win last night, was a mild grin when he was told of the feat.
“;It's great. The best thing is you got the win,”; the 6-foot-1 Titans senior said. “;You get 41 and you lose, man, it doesn't mean anything. I think the best thing is we got a win in this building, which I hear is really hard to win here. I'm happy about that.”;
The Rainbow Warriors (0-2) dropped both games of the Verizon Wireless Tip-Off Classic and fell at home in consecutive games to open the season for the second straight year. Hawaii has also lost nine straight games going back to last season.
Akognon wasn't especially accurate early—at one point he was 5-for-17—but the other Titans gradually got involved and CSF's 53 points in the second half came mostly thanks to porous perimeter defense from the Rainbow Warriors. Akognon, a preseason All-Big West Conference selection, finished 12-for-29 overall. His seven 3-point makes tied a UH opponent record, and his 18 long-range attempts broke the mark by one.
“;It's crazy, honestly, I can't believe it,”; Hawaii forward Brandon Adams said of Akognon's performance. “;And especially on our home court, (in) a loss. We just didn't do what we were supposed to do, defensive-wise.”;
Roderick Flemings scored 21 points to lead Hawaii, but while he and Adams (13 points) posted better games than in their debuts against San Francisco on Friday, scoring came at a premium once Fullerton (1-1) implemented a 2-3 zone early in the second half.
Hawaii couldn't get an inside-outside game going to break the zone and went just 3-for-17 on 3-pointers (17.6 percent), while Fullerton was 11-for-27 (40.7 percent).
“;We gotta find somebody on the perimeter who can knock down shots, spread the floor, so we can get the ball in to those (post) guys,”; Hawaii coach Bob Nash said. “;We gotta be able to pass and catch and not be impatient and shoot bad shots.”;
Ball control was also an issue as the Titans capitalized with 17 points on 18 Hawaii turnovers.
There's little time to rest and adjust, as the Rainbows take on Idaho State at 11 p.m. tonight. The late start is because of ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, a 24-hour-straight period of basketball in which Hawaii agreed to participate.
Akognon attempted nearly half of his team's shots and accounted for a similar amount of its scoring. CSF coach Bob Burton was nearly hoarse in describing his guard afterward.
“;He's the best shooter I've ever coached in 39 years,”; Burton said. “;It's not surprising, he got a nice rhythm going. We don't win the game if he doesn't score that many points.”;
The previous Stan Sheriff Center record was 38 by New Orleans' Hector Romero in 2002 and TCU's Marquise Gainous in 2000.
Texas-Pan American's Marshall Rogers still owns the Hawaii opponent scoring record of 47 in 1976.
Hawaii sometimes lost track of CSF's shooters in the halfcourt and in transition, and the Titans proceeded to punish the 'Bows from deep.
Other times, Akognon put up contested shots that went in anyway.
“;I just think we weren't pressuring him enough,”; Flemings said. “;He was just catching the ball in rhythm and getting his shot off. He's a good shooter and you can't let a good shooter get his rhythm and knock shots down.”;
Nash talked about finding five players who could play “;on the same page together.”; Defense was included in that, and he was disappointed in how often Akognon's quick draw release burned the 'Bows.
“;It's basically a play dribble-handoff, and let him catch and shoot,”; Nash said. “;Our bigs are supposed to step out and hedge and give our guards a little room, but as they come out too hard, he was making a backdoor cut. Just inexperience on how to guard that. We talked about it, worked on it, worked on it, and just had too many breakdowns. That's one of the great performances you'll see here at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Cal State Fullerton 90, Hawaii 76
Rainbow Warriors (0-2)
| fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | a | to | min |
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| Flemings | 8-15 | 4-7 | 5 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
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| Amis | 2-7 | 1-2 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 35 |
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| Balocka | 5-8 | 3-3 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 22 |
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| Nitoto | 3-6 | 1-2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 34 |
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| Parghalava | 2-7 | 1-2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 25 |
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| Fitzgerald | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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| Xiang | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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| Lutu | 4-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
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| Campbell | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
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| Mayen | 1-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
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| Adams | 6-8 | 1-4 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
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| Jespersen | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| TEAM | 6 |
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| Totals | 31-63 | 11-20 | 40 | 19 | 76 | 15 | 18 | 200 |
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Titans (1-1)
| fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | a | to | min |
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| Thompson | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 20 |
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| Anderson | 3-7 | 4-7 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 27 |
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| Guisse | 2-3 | 2-2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
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| Akognon | 12-29 | 10-11 | 1 | 2 | 41 | 3 | 2 | 40 | |
| Streeter | 6-9 | 3-4 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 34 |
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| Lassiter | 3-5 | 0-0 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 31 |
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| Shamsud-din | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
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| Miller | 1-3 | 0-2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
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| Thomas | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| TEAM | 4 |
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| Totals | 30-63 | 19-26 | 32 | 19 | 90 | 16 | 9 | 200
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Key—fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fould; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.
Halftime—Hawaii 37, CS Fullerton 37
3-point goals—CS Fullerton 11-27, (Akognon 7-18, Lassiter 3-4, Samsud-din 1-2, Streeter 0-1, Thompson 0-2), Hawaii 3-17 (Lutu 1-2, Balocka 1-3, Flemings 1-4, Nitoto 0-2, Mayen 0-1, Parghalava 0-5).
Steals—CS Fullerton 7 (Anderson 4, Thompson, Akognon, Streeter), Hawaii 2 (Flemings, Mayen). Blocked shots—CS Fullerton 2 (Anderson, Guisse), Hawaii 3 (Amis, Balocka, Nitoto).
Officials—Larry Spaulding, Ruben Ramos, Frank Harvey III. A—3,178.
