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Michael Kuebler scored 28 points to lead four players into double figures as Hawaii rallied to defeat Lamar 94-88 Saturday night in the opening round of the Rainbow Classic.
Hawaii (6-2), which trailed by 12 points in each half, got back into the game early in the second half.
Lamar (6-4) led by 12 two minutes into the second half before Hawaii went on an 8-0 run to close to 54-50 with 15:54 remaining. Both teams traded baskets for the next five minutes before Phil Martin's three-point play put Hawaii up for good at 62-61.
Hawaii scored the next six points while its man-to-man defense held Lamar scoreless for five straight possessions. Hawaii took a 75-63 lead with 6:19 remaining after Julian Sensley stole a Lamar inbounds pass near midcourt and drove to the hoop for a dunk. The Cardinals got no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Martin scored 15
points for Hawaii while Sensley finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Jeff
Blackett added 10 points off the bench for Hawaii. Teddy Davis led Lamar with
23 points while Raymond Anthony and Terrell Petteway had 22 and 18 apiece.
Observing that his team seemed to have taken an early holiday during last Sunday's overtime win over Grambling State, Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins conducted a week of intensive workouts spanning both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The Aggies responded Saturday night with an intense defensive effort against
Houston -- with one glaring exception.
Cougars guard Andre Owens lit up the Aggies like a seasonal celebration of lights and scored a career-high 41 points to lead the Cougars (5-3) to a come-from-behind 70-61 overtime victory at Hofheinz Pavilion.
Owens nailed 12 of 24 shots -- two more field goals than the rest of his teammates
combined -- to drop the Aggies to 5-4.
"He's a spectacular offensive player," Watkins said. "We knew
coming in he was their leading scorer and figured he could get his average [17.3
ppg], but he couldn't have a 30- or 35-point game -- and he had 41.
"We switched off different guys [and] ran some gimmick defenses against
him, but he got hot and made us pay."
Owens flipped his switch with a little more than six minutes left and his team
trailing 49-39. Beginning with a 3-pointer at 6:21, the 6-foot-4 junior guard
scored 15 of the Cougars' final 16 points -- including some spectacular 3-pointers
and two free throws with 21 seconds to play in regulation that put UH up 55-52.
A&M's Antoine Wright answered with a long-distance 3-pointer with just under
10 seconds left, and Owens, justifiably tired, couldn't win it then as his regulation-buzzer
shot hit the front of the rim.
But Owens ended up beating the Aggies anyway. He stole a backcourt pass on the
first overtime possession and drove for a layup and a 57-55 lead that the Cougars
never relinquished. Owens didn't make a 3-pointer in overtime, but did go 5-for-6
from the line in OT.
He claimed he didn't mean to steal the show.
"I was trying to set my teammates up," Owens said. "But they
kept telling me to shoot it. I was just trying to keep my groove. Sometimes
I get hot and get out of it."
As is often their custom, the Aggies didn't help themselves. As Owens got hot,
A&M froze. Wright's game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation
was the first field goal for the Aggies since the 7:49 mark, when they led 49-38.
"Once I hit that shot I just knew we were going to win the game, that the
momentum was back on our side," Wright said. "But once again, the
guys on the other side kept coming back out and we didn't respond."
Wright maintained that the Aggies can turn things around, despite the continued
stumbles and mounting pressure on Watkins.
"This is no time to get let down," he said. "There is still a
lot of basketball to be played. We know how we can play. We just can't let games
like this slip through our hands."