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POSTED: Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Hawaii's excellent start was nearly undone. Instead, it was outdone by an excellent finish.

The Rainbow Warriors went through a scoring drought of over 6 minutes late in the second half and fell behind late to Louisiana Tech before rallying to win 65-64 on Bill Amis' game-winning baseline jumper with 8.1 seconds left at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Bulldogs called timeout and their top player, Kyle Gibson, drove the length of the floor before pulling up for an errant 15-foot shot contested by Rainbows guard Kareem Nitoto. Players battled under the basket for the rebound and the ball was nearly tipped in twice before the final horn sounded and the crowd of 3,325 erupted.

The win snapped a six-game losing streak in Western Athletic Conference play for the Rainbows (9-5, 1-1 WAC) as they leave on their first league road trip today.

“;We want every game,”; said Hawaii coach Bob Nash, who put the team through a lengthy film session after the team's loss to Boise State on Saturday. “;Going on the road trip, we didn't want to leave here without winning a game.

“;We never get down on each other. We see that there's things wrong and we get back to the drawing board. We asked some very poignant questions, didn't pull any punches, and they responded to that tonight. If we play the right way, we can win games.”;

LaTech (7-8, 1-1 WAC) pulled ahead for the first time all game, 63-60, on back-to-back Magnum Rolle jumpers with 2:40 left. But Nitoto hit his first 3-pointer of the season—a straightaway 24-footer—with 24.6 seconds left to pull Hawaii within 64-63. He was 0-for-9 for the season entering the night and had just missed a trey from the right angle.

“;We could have folded when we were down, but Kareem had the confidence to take the 3 at the end of the game,”; Nash said. “;He stepped up there and made a big shot for us.”;

Hawaii then fouled Gibson on Tech's inbounds play, and the forward missed the ensuing front end of a one-and-one. Nitoto sped up the court and fed Amis for a 12-foot baseline jumper with 8.1 seconds left for a 65-64 lead.

“;It was nothing, really,”; said Amis, who had a team-high 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and five rebounds and five assists (a career high). “;Kareem had a nice drive and I caught it in rhythm. And it's all thanks to a 1-on-1 session with Coach Nash yesterday. He had me doing some shooting drills. He told me I was holding the ball too low.”;

The Rainbows' late drought—when LaTech outscored Hawaii 11-0—was surprising, considering the rate UH shot the ball early. Hawaii opened the game on fire behind the playmaking of Hiram Thompson with scores on its first five possessions, and hit 11 of its first 12 shots to jump ahead 24-11.

LaTech countered with an 11-2 run to pull within 26-22, and the teams traded baskets before UH settled for a 37-35 halftime lead.

Amis had 11 at the half for Hawaii, which shot 65.4 percent to LaTech's 50 percent before the break. UH finished at 51.9 percent to the Bulldogs' 45.6 percent.

With Nash forced to use a shortened rotation because of injuries to guard Lasha Parghalava (back spasms) and Petras Balocka (2 minutes played with a sore hamstring) he went with his starting core of Thompson, Roderick Flemings, Adhar Mayen, Paul Campbell and Amis for the first 10 minutes of the second half. Thompson (six assists, six points) also went out late with an aggravated hamstring.

Campbell responded with career highs in points (13), rebounds (12) and blocks (five). Mayen sprung loose for open jumpers over the first 30 minutes and finished with a career-high 13 points. Flemings, who was shifted more to the wing against Tech's beefy frontcourt, also had 13.

LaTech snapped a 12-game streak for UH in which it had outrebounded its opponents. Kenneth Cooper led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while Rolle had 10 points and eight rebounds. David Jackson chipped in 11 off the bench.

For the second straight game, the Rainbows couldn't earn calls from the WAC officials at home. They came into WAC play averaging 30 free-throw attempts per game, but got only 10 attempts against Boise State on Saturday and six attempts last night. Three fouls were called on the Bulldogs in the second half and nine for the game, compared to 13 for Hawaii.

“;The referees call it the way they see it, and we gotta adjust to the way they called the game,”; Nash said.

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Hawaii 65, Lousiana Tech 64

Bulldogs (7-8, 1-1)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

	fg-a	ft-a	rb	pf	pts	a	to	min
Guyton	3-10	0-0	4	2	7	3	2	38
Rolle	4-10	2-2	8	1	10	2	3	31
Gibson	3-12	0-2	7	2	8	4	3	38
Loe	2-3	1-1	0	0	6	2	0	15
Cooper	6-11	2-4	7	0	14	1	1	34
Rogers	1-2	0-0	0	1	2	0	0	4
Ashaolu	3-3	0-0	0	2	6	0	1	11
Berhe	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Jackson	4-6	1-2	2	1	11	1	0	25
Team			4				1
Totals	26-57	6-11	32	9	64	13	11	200

Rainbow warriors (9-5, 1-1)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

	fg-a	ft-a	rb	pf	pts	a	to	min
Thompson	3-6	0-0	2	1	6	6	3	29
Campbell	6-8	1-3	12	3	13	1	2	37
Flemings	5-13	0-0	1	0	13	3	0	40
Mayen	6-12	0-0	1	2	13	1	2	39
Amis	7-11	3-3	5	2	17	5	1	38
Nitoto	1-3	0-0	1	3	3	2	0	12
Balocka	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Adams	0-0	0-0	0	2	0	0	1	2
Team			4
Totals	28-54	4-6	27	13	65	18	10	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 37, Lousiana Tech 35. Regulation—Hawaii 65, Louisiana Tech 64.

3-point goals—Louisiana Tech. 6-14 (Jackson 2-4, Gibson 2-4, Loe 1-1, Guyton 1-5), Hawaii 5-18 (Flemings 3-6, Nitoto 1-2, Mayen 1-7, Balocka 0-1, Thompson 0-2).

Steals—Lousiana Tech 4 (Rolle 2, Gibson, Loe), Hawaii 5 (Thompson 2, Flemings 2, Mayen). Blocked shots—Lousiana Tech 2 (Rolle 2), Hawaii 6 (Campbell 5, Adams).

Officials—Mark Reischling, Lonnie Dixon, Mike Giaratanno. Attendance—3,325.

 

WAC standings

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

	WAC	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
New Mexico St.	2	0	1.000	—	8	7
Boise State	1	0	1.000	1/2	10	3
Utah State	1	0	1.000	1/2	13	1
Hawaii	1	1	.500	1	9	5
Louisiana Tech	1	1	.500	1	7	8
Idaho	1	1	.500	1	7	8
Nevada	0	1	.000	1 1/2	7	7
Fresno State	0	1	.000	1 1/2	7	8
San Jose State	0	2	.000	2	6	6

Yesterday
Utah State 70, Idaho 61
Hawaii 65, Louisiana Tech 64
New Mexico State 75, San Jose State 73