Both Hawaii squads post basketball victories

By Fred Guzman

Over the last several years, it’s been rare when the University of Hawaii basketball teams could claim any sort of victory, let alone both the men and women registering wins on the same day.

But that’s what happened last night as the UH men posted a 77-71 road victory over San Jose State and the Rainbow Wahine celebrated Senior Night with a 72-71 overtime triumph over visiting Utah State.

For the men, it was their ninth win in 11 outings and improved their marks to 18-10 overall and 8-7 in the WAC, where the Bows now find themselves in a tie for fifth place after being picked to finish last in the nine-team conference.

Junior guard Zane Johnson continued his hot shooting for UH, finishing with 26 points, making 6-of-10 on his 3-point attempts. Senior forward Bill Amis added 19 points and nine rebounds, helping UH overcome a major deficit on the boards – particularly in the second half.

Defensively, UH again contained Adrian Oliver, the nation’s third-leading scorer coming into the game with a 24.3 average. Oliver’s 18 points came on 4-for-18 shooting. In a previous game versus Hawaii, Oliver was held to a season-low 10 points, going 4-for-10 from the field.

Hawaii remains on the road for a game at Fresno State tomorrow. The Bulldogs are 5-10 and eighth in the WAC following a 69-66 home loss to Idaho last night.

WAHINE WIN: It was a dramatic and satisfying way to celebrate Senior Night for the Rainbow Wahine. Ironically, it was a freshman who delivered the goods for the five departing players last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Kamilah Jackson converted a pair game-winning free throws, lifting Hawaii to an overtime victory and enabling the Wahine to improve their records to 11-18 ovrall and 5-11 for seventh place in the WAC.

Senior point guard Keisha Kanekoa missed a pull-up jumpr with time expiring but Jackson collected the offensive rebound and was fould while attempting to put the ball up.

After the officals conferred, it was determined that 0.3 seconds were left on the clock. The freshman calmly converted both shots for the victory and finished with 21 points and 19 rebounds.

That capped an emotional sendoff for UH seniors Kanekoa, Megan Tinnin, Allie Patterson, Julita Bungaite and Mai Ayabe were honored.

Tinnin had 18 points, including 5-for-8 shooting on 3-pointers, and Kanekoa added 16 points.

UH started the five seniors, but fell behind 11-0 and had to rally from a 21-point first-half deficit to make it a game. Hawaii was guilty of 27 turnovers, but forced 23 on the third-place Aggies who fell to 15-13 overall and 9-6 in the conference.

BASEBALL: For a change, the University of Hawaii baseball team, which has specialized on late-inning comebacks this season, got off to a great start yesterday. But what began so well ended badly for the Bows, who squandered a 5-0 lead by allowing seven unanswered runs with two in a 7-5 road loss to Loyola-Marymount.

The defeat dropped Hawaii’s record to 3-5, while the Lions improved to 8-2. Loyola’s only losses are to UC Riverside and No. 7 Cal State Fullerton.

The four-game series continues today and runs through Sunday. UH will play a fifth game in its initial road trip of the season on Monday at Long Beach State.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL: Based on statistics alone, you would think the UH men’s volleyball team are in the midst of a highly successful season. But that’s hardly been the case.

Despite hitting at a blistering .325 pace and featuring a trio of exceptional attackers in Jonas Umlauft, Joshua Walker and Steven Hunt, Hawaii is a disappointing 4-6 going matches today and Saturday against conference rival Pepperdine at the Stan Sheriff Center.

That’s because UH has fallen short in other – perhaps less sexy – areas of the sport. Namely, the Bows have lacked consistency in their passing and service games.