Box Score
RENO, Nev. - The Hawai'i men's basketball team could not overcome a poor first half performance in its 77-64 loss to Nevada, Thursday night, at the Lawlor Events Center. The loss drops the Rainbow Warriors (19-9, 11-6) into a third place tie in the Western Athletic Conference standings along with Rice and Boise State, while the Wolf Pack moves within a game behind front-runner UTEP.
The 'Bows also dropped to 0-7 all-time against the Wolf Pack in Reno. UH fell behind by as much as 17 in the second half and closed to seven but could not get closer than that.
Guard Michael Kuebler scored a team-high 17 points, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Center Haim Shimonovich added 11 points and seven rebounds while forwards Phil Martin and Jeff Blackett each scored 10 in a losing cause.
Nevada (19-8, 12-5) was led by junior Kirk Snyder, who scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
UH jumped out to an early 7-3 lead. But the Wolf Pack rallied and used a 7-0 spurt to take a 14-10 lead. Moments later, Nevada scored eight unanswered points with baskets by Jermaine Washington and Kevinn Pinkney to surge to a 26-14 lead with under five minutes to play.
Snyder's jumper before the halftime buzzer put Nevada ahead 31-16 going into the locker room. For the half, the 'Bows shot 22.2 percent from the field (6-of-27) and were out-rebounded 26-14.
Hawai'i came out on fire in the second half and cut the deficit to seven behind the hot-shooting of Martin. At one point Martin scored eight straight points, which pulled the 'Bows to 36-29 with 15:51 remaining. But the Wolf Pack answered the run and pushed their lead to 17 after an 8-0 run, sparked by consecutive fastbreak dunks by Snyder.
UH slowly trimmed into the deficit and Jason Carter's trey with under five minutes to play, narrowed the gap to 63-56. But Nevada once again pulled away and an 8-0 run put the game away.
The 'Bows shot 60.6 percent in the second half and out-rebounded the Wolf Pack, 17-12.
Hawai'i conclude its regular season at Fresno State, Saturday, March 6. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. PST at the Save Mart Center. The game will be televised live on KFVE-TV and can be heard on KKEA 1420 AM with Bobby Curran calling the action.
-uh-
