Sueing, alumni entertain fans

Justice Sueing has still got it.

Sueing, 41, scored a game-high 20 points with a variety of impressive shots — none more so than his off-the-glass self-alley-oop dunk in the final seconds — as his Green alumni squad defeated the White alumni 56-47 on Saturday afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center.

It was the first men’s basketball alumni game at UH in decades. About 250 people showed up for the prelude to the modern-day Rainbow Warriors’ 7 p.m. game against Cal State Fullerton.

A number of lighthearted, comedic moments kept the fans (and players) laughing. UH coach Benjy Taylor was in stitches on the sidelines seemingly half the time.

The players ranged from the 1960s to just a couple seasons ago in Miah Ostrowski and Pii Minns. Eighteen former Rainbows played in all, while four of the Fabulous Five — Jerome Freeman, Dwight Holiday, Al Davis and John Penebacker — split up to coach the teams.

Sueing, who played at UH under Riley Wallace in the 1994-95 and 95-96 seasons, played plenty hard and showed some game. These days, he’s an assistant at Maryknoll, where his son Justice Jr. stars.

“My first thoughts were, when I came to the game, ‘I’m coming fresh out the car. Don’t make yourself look bad,’ ” Sueing said. “I haven’t been playing, so I had to really put my mind back in the game. Try to at least play something like I used to. Mainly just try to be competitive and stuff with the fellas.”

He found a spirited competitor in the White’s Phil Martin, who threw down a couple dunks of his own.

“Sometimes they say some stuff on the court, it brings out that memory, that ‘let’s go get em, fellas.’ It was all right,” Sueing said.

With the seconds ticking down, Tim Shepherd tossed the ball to Sueing with a clear path to the basket. Sueing tossed it to himself underhanded and stuffed it with two hands as the crowd cheered.

“When I threw the ball off the glass, Shep kind of was like, ‘It’s your world!’ He stepped aside like, ‘Do what you do!’ ” Sueing said. “He put me on the spot. Once the ball released (from) my hand, I thought, ‘Here we go, let’s see what happens!’ It worked out. I was like, ‘Phew, thank you.’ ”

Other highlights included Kalia McGee running into Taylor in courtside seats and a foul being called on Taylor; Kawika Hallums doing Kawika Hallums things; Artie Wilson making a layup for the first basket of the game; and Lance Takaki outrebounding several (much) taller opponents.

For the Green squad, Minns scored nine, Ostrowski had eight and Kelii Silva chipped in seven. For the White, Geremy Robinson scored a team-high 12, Martin had 10 and Jason “J.C.” Carter added eight.

Here are some more photos from the game.