Rainbows sink Cyclones on Amis' 2 free throws
POSTED: Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Two spirited rallies and a friendly call were enough to lift the Hawaii men's basketball team to a rousing victory last night.
Iowa State seemed well in control against the Rainbow Warriors in the second half, but faltered late as UH won 60-59 before a crowd of 3,424 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Cyclones' Craig Brackins hit a free throw with 2.6 seconds left to put ISU up 59-58, but things swung right back when Brackins was called for a push foul on Hawaii's Bill Amis at halfcourt, right when Amis caught the ensuing inbounds pass.
Amis sank two game-winning free-throws and ISU point guard Diante Garrett's halfcourt heave coming out of two timeouts was off the mark.
“;(The inbounds play) wasn't drawn up like that, they cut off our guards and we didn't have any timeouts,”; Amis said. “;I was breaking to the ball, Adhar (Mayen) threw it, I stopped short and (Brackins) just ran through me.”;
Of the free throws, he said, “;Just didn't want to have any regrets.”;
Four forwards led the way for Hawaii (2-2). Amis posted 17 points and eight rebounds, while Petras Balocka added 15 on 5-for-7 shooting. Roderick Flemings scored 12 points with five assists and Mayen put in 10 and hit two key 3-pointers in the second half.
After leading by three at halftime, Hawaii stumbled against the Cyclones' 2-3 zone defense coming out of the break and fell behind by 13.
But a 14-0 run—punctuated by a rare Amis 3-pointer and three-point play by Balocka—gave Hawaii a 51-50 lead with 5 minutes, 14 seconds left.
“;The team came together and we're like, 'We're not giving this up,' “; Balocka said.
The Cyclones (3-1) responded by going up 58-51 behind four free throws from Garrett, who finished with a career-high 26 points.
Hawaii again surged back with a 7-0 run to tie things up at 58 on a Balocka hook with 53.8 seconds left.
The Rainbows held Brackins, the Cyclones' leading scorer, to 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting. He could have been the hero with his go-ahead free throw, but instead made what ISU coach Greg McDermott called “;a mistake”; when he made contact with Amis.
“;That falls on me and having the guys in the wrong spot,”; McDermott said. “;But they made plays. It didn't come down to just the last play.”;
Hawaii coach Bob Nash felt the kind of mental toughness his team displayed could help the Rainbows turn a corner; UH has its first winning streak of the season.
“;They showed their grit by coming out ... and playing inspired basketball, really worked as a team, put ourselves in position where we got the last shot at the basket,”; Nash said. “;They played with their heads, their lips and their hearts.”;
The Cyclones thrived on the 3-point shot in winning the World Vision Classic, but the Rainbows did a good job of closing out on Iowa State's shooters. ISU went 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) and shot just 36.4 percent overall.
Hawaii also became the first team to shoot higher than 35 percent against Iowa State, and made 20 of 21 free throws.
Iowa State played Hawaii man-to-man early, but once the Cyclones switched to a 2-3 zone, the Rainbows' production diminished until late.
For the early and middle portions of the game, the problem was Hawaii couldn't connect from deep and didn't establish a solid presence in the post.
But the post play improved late behind Balocka and Flemings, and Amis thrived in the mid-range game.
Hawaii went with its third different starting lineup in four games—starting Lasha Parghalava at the point over Kareem Nitoto, and reinserting Balocka to the starting five—and jumped out to leads of 10-2 and 21-11.
But Iowa State closed the half on an 11-4 run and trailed just 25-22 at the break.
Hawaii improved to a respectable 15-16 record all-time against Big 12 teams.
Amis scored 10 points in the first half on 5-for-5 shooting.
Hawaii 60, Iowa State 59
Cyclones (3-1)
| fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | a | to | min |
||
| Thompson | 3-5 | 0-0 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
|
| Brackins | 4-12 | 2-4 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 26 |
|
| Haluska | 1-5 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
|
| Garrett | 7-16 | 10-10 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 2 | 2 | 35 |
|
| Petersen | 1-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 28 |
|
| Buckley | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
| Staiger | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
|
| Eikmeier | 0-3 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
|
| Vanderbeken | 0-1 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
|
| Hamilton | 2-3 | 2-2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
|
| TEAM | 2 | ||||||||
| Totals | 20-55 | 14-16 | 29 | 17 | 59 | 6 | 10 | 200 |
Rainbow Warriors (2-2)
| fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | a | to | min |
||
| Mayen | 4-7 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 32 |
|
| Amis | 7-11 | 2-2 | 8 | 3 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 36 |
|
| Balocka | 5-7 | 5-5 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 23 |
|
| Parghalava | 0-5 | 2-2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 25 |
|
| Flemings | 2-9 | 7-8 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 37 |
|
| Nitoto | 0-6 | 2-2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 24 |
|
| Lutu | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
| Campbell | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
|
| Adams | 0-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
|
| TEAM | 7 |
||||||||
| Totals | 18-46 | 20-21 | 35 | 17 | 60 | 13 | 16 | 200 |
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 25, Iowa State 22.
3-point goals—Iowa State 5-18 (Garrett 2-3, Staiger 2-4, Petersen 1-3, Bracking 0-1, Vanderbeken 0-1, Eikmeier 0-3, Haluska 0-3), Hawaii 4-17 (Mayen 2-5, Amis 1-2, Flemings 1-4, Nitoto 0-2, Parghalava 0-4).
Steals—Iowa State 8 (Garrett 2, Petersen 2, Thompson, Brackins, Haluska, Buckley), Hawaii 3 (ammis, Parghalava, Nitoto). Blocked shots—Iowa State 1 (Thompson), Hawaii 2 (Mayen, Campbell).
Officials—Bill Kennedy, Ronnie Hernandez, Todd Apo. Attendance—3,424.
