Monday, November 30, 1998

Tourney a
lesson for HPU

By Jerry Campany
Special to the Star-Bulletin

This was not what Hawaii Pacific had in mind.

Hawaii Pacific athletics director Tony Sellitto scheduled seven tough Division I teams for his first Thanksgiving tournament, hoping to find out how deep the gap is between his Sea Warriors and that level of competition. Injuries to two of his top players left him unprepared for the task.

HPU led for the first five minutes before Hofstra put together 14 straight points and went on to beat the Sea Warriors, 69-48, in the consolation game of the Hawaii Pacific Thanksgiving classic.

The Sea Warriors were coming off a 3-point loss to Baylor Saturday night, when HPU hung tough with a Baylor team despite missing two starters. Power forward Scott Kato missed the entire tournament with a broken nose, and team leader Willie Flowers left before halftime with a bruised tailbone. Flowers did not suit up for Hofstra.

"Injuries are not important, overcoming them is," Hawaii Pacific head coach Tony Sellitto said. "But I know that with Scott Kato and Will (Flowers), we can play with anybody."

Without them, HPU couldn't play with the Flying Dutchmen. Hofstra used a defense that Sellitto called "the best in the tournament" to stifle HPU and force it into a running, playground game rather than a set offense with Shannon Lee passing the ball to a myriad of weapons.

Lee was held to a single assist. He pitched in 16 points.

"We played more one-on-one basketball today," Lee said. "We didn't want to, but they forced us to."

Robert Parker scored 15 points on 5-17 shooting -- including 1-7 from beyond the 3-point stripe.

Hawaii Pacific had trouble with all phases of the game against Hofstra, but the difference between the divisions seemed to be on the glass. The Sea Warriors were out rebounded, 44-24, by Hofstra and 150-91 over the three game tournament.

Illinois State 83, Iona 75: In the tournament championship game, the Redbirds (5-1) ran through the top seeded Gaels (2-1) as Leroy Watkins held Iona center Kashif Hameed to 3-13 shooting and four rebounds.

"Watkins is an outstanding defender," Illinois State head coach Kevin Stallings said. "Hameed is a heck of a player, but Watkins was too big and strong for him."

Tarise Bryson of Illinois State was named the tournament MVP.

Southern Mississippi 51, Virginia Commonwealth 48: Pedro Phillips hit two clutch free throws in overtime and tallied a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Golden Eagles (4-1) beat the Rams (3-4) in the third-place game.

Missouri-Kansas City 49, Baylor 46: Nick Richmond led all scorers with 13 and Jimmy Keller snagged 14 rebounds as the Kangaroos (2-4) beat the Bears (2-4).

Baylor center Kish Lewis made it interesting when he hit a couple of free throws to tie the game at 43 with 2:18 remaining. Richmond then followed an Eddie Smith jumper and four free throws to seal the game.