Three ex-UH players invited to NFL combine

By Fred Guzman

Three former Hawaii football players — slotbacks Greg Salas and Kealoha Pilares, and running back Alex Green – received coveted invitations to the NFL Scouting Combine in late February.

The event again will be held in Indianpolis and will feature 300 of the top prospects for the NFL draft in April. (cq)

Salas had 119 catches for 1,880 yards and 14 touchdowns. Salas will play in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 29 in Mobile, Ala.

Despite missing some time because of injury, Pilares had 88 receptions for 1,306 yards and 15 scores.

Although playing in a pass-orinted offense, the 6-foot-2, 230 –pound Green rushed for 1,199 yards and 18 TD. Green also accepted an invitation to play in the Texas vs. The Nation all-star game to be held Feb. 5 in San Antonio.

UH HOOPS: Much has changed with the Hawaii basketball program during Gib Arnold’s brief time as coach.

Although hampered by injuries and two defections, the Bows have nearly as many wins now, nine, as they had all off last year, whcn another 10-win season resulted in the firing of Bob Nash.

The young team also has undergone a new look on offense while playing determined defense.

For the moment, at least, two things remain unchanged. The Rainbows can’t win on the road generally and in Reno particularly.

UH showed little fire and even less defense in an 86-69 spanking at the hands of the Wolf Pack, which came into the game with 3-10 record. Friday’s loss dropped UH to 9-5 overall and 0-2 in conference.

UH is 0-14 all-time at Nevada and has lost 14 straight on the road.

The Bows stuck around for about 12 minutes before the home town Wolf Pack went on a 21-7 run for a 45-29 halftime lead and pushed that advantage to 61-36 less than four minutes into the second half.

Olek Czyz, a Duke transfer who recently became eligible, and Dario Hunt each scored 23 for Nevada.

Vander Joaquim again came up big for UH, scoring a season-high 22 and grabbing 13 rebounds. Hiram Thompson had 14 points and Zane Johnson 10.

Next for the Bows are WAC home games against Idaho on Thursday and Boise State on Saturday.

WAHINE HOOPS: The Rainbow Wahine concluded the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 6-7 record. Hawaii opens the WAC campaign this week with home games on Thursday against New Mexico State and Saturday versus Louisiana Tech.

The brightest spot for UH has been the emergence of freshman forward Kamilah Jackson, who is averaging team highs of 13.9 points and 11.9 points. She had 31 points and 25 rebounds in a win over Cal State Bakersfield in last week’s Rainbow Wahine Classic.