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Saturday, December 30, 2000
UH gets Like a veteran pool shooter, Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace carefully checked his options when forward Phil Martin fouled out with 1:53 left and the game on the line.
shot at talented
Tennessee
English is the latest to join
the star-a-day club as Hawaii
beats Saint Louis in
Classic semifinalVols over Hawkeyes
By Dave Reardon
Star-BulletinHe decided to go with a little English -- 6-foot-4 guard Carl English.
The freshman responded with three rebounds and five free throws down the stretch, preserving another you-take-it-no-we-want-it victory, 75-67, over Saint Louis last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. A crowd of 6,020 -- by far the largest and loudest of the season -- found a new favorite, from Newfoundland.
"When I got down (for the final rebound), I got a bad crack in the head, but I couldn't even feel it because the crowd was so happy we got the ball," English said.
FINAL TODAY
Hawaii vs. Tennessee, 7:30 p.m.
THIRD PLACE GAME
FIFTH PLACE GAME
SEVENTH PLACE GAME
SEMIFINALS YESTERDAY
OTHER GAMES
With its fourth-consecutive win, UH (6-4) gets a chance to run the Rainbow Classic table tonight. But the odds are long for the defending champions, as they take on big, bad Tennessee (12-1), the No. 6 ranked team in the nation, in the 7:30 p.m. final.
Not only are the Volunteers intimidating on the court, but some showed a willingness to mix it up near, of all places, the tournament hospitality area. On Thursday, several UT players were involved in a chair-swinging melee with George Washington players. By all accounts it was something fit for the Jerry Springer Show.
"We're scared and we might not show up," Wallace deadpanned.
"Naw, we're just happy to be in the championship game. We can enjoy this just for a few minutes and start getting ready, because they're legitimately a Top-5 talent."
Saint Louis (7-5) coach Lorenzo Romar echoed Wallace.
"Whoever would've played Tennessee would have their hands full," he said. "They're one of the most talented teams in the country.
"However ... Hawaii may surprise some people with how they hang in there. I didn't tell you they were going to lose. I told you they were going to have their hands full."
English had his hands full of rebounds in the final minute as he joined the Rainbows' expanding whodaguy-to-hero club.
His clutch boards and free throws made his coach look like a genius. And the irony is Hawaii was outrebounded, 36-24.
"I had a choice at that time to go big ... and I decided to go with Carl because he's athletic and we needed some one-on-one defense," Wallace said.
English, stuck in playing time gridlock behind veteran teammates, was called on also because Mike McIntyre tweaked his right ankle earlier in the game.
"I knew I had to rebound," English said. "When you come off the bench you have the advantage of seeing what the guys are doing and what they're not doing. I knew we needed rebounds and that's what I tried to do."
Understudies shining in the spotlight is a major theme of the Rainbows' winning streak.
Mindaugas Burneika, barely in the rotation two weeks ago, starred for the second night in a row, replacing leading scorer and rebounder Troy Ostler in the post.
Burneika scored a game-high 21 points and made several big defensive plays in the final minutes.
UH made 17-of-26 field goals, including 3-of-3 treys by Burneika, to lead, 47-32, a minute into the second half.
The Billikens then put together an 8-0 run to get back in it.
Maurice Jeffers scored 13 of his team-high 17 after halftime as Saint Louis went to the paint against shorter Hawaii, and finally tied it at 67-all on a free throw by Chris Braun with 1:06 left.
For the third time in the four-win streak, UH seemed on the verge of losing a game it led handily in the second half.
But Nerijus Puida rebounded Braun's miss on the second shot; then Burneika rebounded an English airball, scored, was fouled, and made his free throw.
Hawaii led, 70-67, and English took care of the rest.
Burneika said the vocal crowd fired him up. "It's like a sixth player," he said.
Ostler, expected to miss his second game last night after spraining his left ankle a week ago, played 11 minutes.
"They've got heart," Wallace said. "It's just like they refuse to lose. They want to play.
"They stepped it up a level, no doubt about that. But there's a big level we have to step it up (Saturday) because that's a great basketball team we're playing."
Hawaii 75, Saint Louis 67
Billikens (7-5, 1-1 OHRC)
fg fga ft fta reb a tp min Perry 2 5 3 4 1 2 7 30 Tatum 5 13 3 4 6 1 13 30 Jeffers 7 12 3 5 5 0 17 33 Sloan 2 3 0 0 1 2 4 12 Heinrich 1 3 1 3 1 0 3 15 McClain 0 1 2 2 2 0 2 6 Fisher 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 18 Diener 2 3 2 2 2 2 6 22 Baniak 2 3 0 0 5 0 4 9 Braun 4 10 2 4 10 0 11 25 Team 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - Totals 25 53 16 24 36 9 67 200 Rainbows (6-4, 2-0 OHRC)
fg fga ft fta reb a tp min Savovic 4 12 3 5 4 2 12 33 Martin 2 2 2 3 3 2 6 25 Hilton 3 5 1 1 1 1 8 30 Burneika 6 11 6 7 5 0 21 32 Puida 2 7 1 2 3 4 5 37 McIntyre 3 3 0 0 0 1 7 17 English 1 3 7 8 5 1 9 7 Ostler 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 11 O’Connor 1 1 2 2 0 1 4 6 Fields 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - Totals 23 47 23 30 24 14 75 200 Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime score-Hawaii 44, Saint Louis 32
3-point goals-SL 1-5 (Braun 1-3, Perry 0-1, Diener 0-1), UH 6-8 (Burneika 3-3, McIntyre 1-1, Savovic 1-2, Hilton 1-2). Personal fouls-SL 26, UH 24. Fouled out-Tatum, Jeffers, Martin. Steals-SL 3 (Jeffers, Fisher, Baniak), UH 8 (Savovic 2, Burneika 2, Puida 2, McIntyre, O'Connor). Blocked shots-SL 5 (Baniak 2, Tatum, Diener, Braun), Hawaii 2 (Puida, Ostler). Turnovers-SL 20 (Tatum 5, Perry 4, Jeffers 3, Baniak 3, Heinrich 2, Fisher 2, Braun), UH 17 (Savovic 3, Hilton 3, Burneika 3, Puida 3, English 2, Martin, McIntyre, Ostler). Technicals-none. Officials-Rucker, Lewis, Allen.--8,088 (tickets distributed), 6,020 (turnstile).
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
