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’Bows open season with Rainbow Classic

Senior Reporter

Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009

Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009

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JEFF HUANG

UH Hiloʼs Bryan Ngo is stopped short by UH seniors Petras Balocka, Adhar Mayen and Paul Campbell in an exhibition game against the UH Hilo Vulcans.

The Rainbow Warrior basketball team has struggled with injuries in the preseason, but that won’t stop the season from starting.

The ’Bows will kick off their regular season in the 46th annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic this week starting on Friday, Nov. 13, against Southern Utah at 7:35 p.m. and continuing on Sunday, Nov. 15, against McNeese State and Monday, Nov 16., against Northern Colorado.

In its first preseason exhibition game against the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo Vulcans, UH was forced to an eight-man rotation, but since then several players have made progress in their recovery.

“We are getting a few more healthy bodies, so the competitive practices that we have had have been good for us in preparation for this weekend,” head coach Bob Nash said. “Our guys are really excited about the challenges ahead of us, and they are working hard to get ready.”

Senior forward Bill Amis will not be able to recover in time for the Rainbow Warriors’ first regular season game.

Amis, who was the ’Bows captain and leading rebounder last season, suffered a foot injury in Hawai‘i’s exhibition game against Brigham Young University-Hawai‘i and is out indefinitely.

“Hopefully we will have someone else on the team step up and shoulder some of the load, or we will spread some of the load around so that it all doesn’t fall on one guy,” Nash said. “When you put a team together you have to know that you will have adverse situations that you will have to deal with, and players have to know that they may have to do more, play more minutes, change their roles a little bit, and as coaches we just have to prepare them for those changes.

“We have a system in place, and it doesn’t revolve around just one guy or two guys,” Nash continued. “It is a multi-opportunity offense – anybody can be the main guy. Who works the hardest to get in position to score, who works the hardest on defense, and it’s all about the team.”

Without Amis, Roderick Flemings may see more time at the power forward position, and more scoring pressure could be put on sharpshooting newcomers junior guards Dwain Williams and Jeremy Lay.

Amis was known for more his basketball talent, however; one of his strongest suits was his leadership, and that responsibility will be passed on to junior point guard Hiram Thompson, who was second in team voting for captaincy.

“We expect Hiram to be a leader and the guy in the locker room, be the buffer between the player and the coaches if they have concerns,” Nash said. “We expect Hiram to be able to handle those duties, and he has a responsibility and we talked about that. It’s not just a figurehead position; we want him to take the position very seriously so Hiram will act as the captain until Bill gets back.”

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