Thursday, December 20, 2001
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Savo, Rainbows One thing is for certain.
thwart Pilots
UH hangs on for a win in the
Hawaii needs to work on finishing
first round of the Rainbow ClassicBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comPortland has a standing invitation for a future Rainbow Classic appearance. The Pilots gave the hosts what they both wanted and needed -- a win that will keep the Rainbows out of the brunch bracket of the 38th annual event.
Senior guard Predrag Savovic scored 24 points and Hawaii (7-2) came out of its 3-point shooting slump to earn a semifinal date tomorrow night with Iona (3-6). The Rainbows hit a season-tying eight 3-pointers to finish off the Pilots, 75-68, in front of 4,305 (6,296 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center.
In yesterday's opener, Iona outscored Holy Cross 42-27 in the second half to take a 71-59 victory.
In today's games, No. 10 Boston College faces Miami (Ohio) at 5 p.m. Georgia takes on Arkansas State at 7:30 p.m.
In tomorrow's championship semifinals, tonight's winners play at 5 p.m. followed by Hawaii taking on Iona.
In tomorrow's losers bracket, Holy Cross will meet Portland at 11 a.m. The losers of tonight's contests play at 1:30 p.m.
At Tuesday's banquet, Rainbow coach Riley Wallace had joked about how a team could guarantee it would be invited back to the tournament.
"You know what you have to do," he said, looking at Portland's first-year coach Michael Holton.
The Pilots (4-5) didn't roll over, giving the Rainbows a tough game until the final 30 seconds. Mark Campbell's two free throws with 26.8 seconds left iced the game for Hawaii.
Savovic, in his second outing after a seven-game NCAA suspension, led the team with 24 points. Senior guard Mike McIntrye, who had seven points in last Friday's loss to San Diego State, added 14, 13 coming in the second half as he hit three 3-pointers.
Sophomore forward Phil Martin added 12, all in the first half. Hawaii's leading scorer this season, Carl English, didn't manage any points until there were 10 minutes left in the game; he finished with five, 12 off his average.
"I thought Phil came to play, especially the first half," said Wallace. "We needed him to pick it up."
Savovic (16) and Martin (12) combined for 28 of the team's first 38 points. Hawaii, which had been a combined 1-for-16 from 3-point range in the last two games, hit four in the first 16 minutes.
All four were by Savovic, whose last trey of the first half gave the Rainbows their biggest lead of the period at 38-24 with 4:01 left before intermission.
Hawaii, hitting 10 of its first 16 field goals, cooled off considerably toward the end of the half, finishing 16 of 34. Portland capitalized, outscoring the hosts 12-3 in the final 3:40 to close to 41-36 at halftime.
Adam Quick led the Pilots with 17 points and Coky Rochin 12.
The Rainbows were unimpressive at the free-throw line, hitting just 13 of 23. Hawaii dominated on the boards with a 41-26 edge, with Martin recording his first double-double of the year with 10 rebounds.
"I don't see it as a great feat," said Martin. "But you do what you need to do. There was a lot of motivation for me, the coaches were challenging me to get out there and help."
The Rainbows watched the beginning of the Iona-Holy Cross game.
"They're a tough team with savvy players," said Savovic.
"They're solid," said McIntyre, "and they're hot, winning their last three."
The last manic minute showed that the Hawaii basketball team needs to improve on its end game. Hawaii needs to work
on finishing gamesBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comPhil Martin's ill-advised foul and three missed free throws by Mike McIntyre nearly let Portland back into a game UH should have closed out much earlier last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"I couldn't make a free throw. It was crazy," McIntyre said, and then of the Pilots. "They were savvy players. They never gave up."
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace acknowledged Portland's heart, but also said the Rainbows need to improve on slamming the door on opponents.
"We need a better effort down the stretch," Wallace said. "It's frustrating because you know these are smart kids. Maybe they're trying too hard. They need to relax and run their offense. I think we try too hard sometimes."
But if you look at the entire picture, Martin and McIntyre were masterful in key stretches of UH's 75-68 victory over Portland in the first round of the Rainbow Classic.
For one half, it was like the good old days for Martin.
As a freshman last season, he led the Western Athletic Conference in field-goal efficiency. The 6-foot-8 forward made the conference's all-newcomer team after hitting 63 percent of his shots.
Until last night Martin hadn't enjoyed the same kind of success this year, even for one half.
He went into the game averaging more points per-game than last season (9.8 to 8.8), but he was much less accurate (46 percent from the floor).
But Martin hit his first six shots last night on his way to a 12-point, season-high 10-rebound performance reminiscent of last season when he helped the Rainbows get to the NCAA Tournament.
Martin made three short-range baskets, including two dunks, to help key a 16-3 first-half run that gave Hawaii a 29-15 lead. The Pilots chipped away, but could never make up the difference.
"That seems to be a key," Wallace said. "When Phil comes to play we win."
Martin also made good use of a quickness and height advantage against Portland's 6-6 forward Karl Aaker on defense limiting him to nine points and four rebounds.
"I felt real energized. A lot of back cuts were open," Martin said. "They weren't covering them and we used them to our advantage. Eventually they caught on."
When Martin and Predrag Savovic (16 of his game-high 24 points before the half) cooled off in the second half, McIntyre picked up the slack with three 3-pointers in the first nine minutes after intermission. UH needed McIntyre's long-range accuracy, as the Pilots stayed within catch-up range by firing up threes at every opportunity.
"Mike McIntyre turned things around," Wallace said. "He hit key baskets for us."
McIntyre scored 13 of his 14 points after the break.
"Sooner or later the shots come," McIntyre said. "Early on I rushed them. Defense makes offense."
Savovic bounced back from a 2-for-13 shooting performance in his season-debut, a loss last Friday to San Diego State.
"We played better as a team tonight," Savovic said. "We passed the ball well, not too many turnovers."
Pilots (4-5) Hawaii 75, Portland 68
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Jorgusen 2 9 1 2 37 4 1 6 Aaker 3 5 0 0 21 4 1 9 Quick 7 14 0 0 38 1 5 17 Rochin 5 14 2 2 29 6 1 12 Frandsen 3 9 2 3 28 2 4 9 Troupe 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Sema 2 4 0 0 16 1 0 4 Knight 4 5 0 0 17 1 1 9 Galos 0 3 2 2 14 4 1 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 26 63 7 9 200 27 14 68 Warriors (7-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 9 19 2 4 32 5 4 24 Martin 6 10 0 0 30 10 3 12 Shimonovich 1 3 5 6 30 8 2 7 Campbell 2 4 3 4 36 1 7 7 English 2 11 0 0 25 4 4 5 McIntyre 5 9 1 5 26 4 3 14 Burneika 2 5 2 2 16 5 1 6 Vebobe 0 1 0 2 5 2 1 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 27 62 13 23 200 42 25 75 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-Portland. 36, Hawaii 41.
3-point goals--Portland. 9-23 (Aaker 3, Quick 3, Jorgusen, Frandsen, Knight); Hawaii 8-22 (Savovic 4, McIntyre 3, English). Personal fouls--Portland 20, Hawaii 13. Technical fouls--none. Steals--Portland 3 (Rochin, Frandsen, Galos); Hawaii 3 (Campbell 2, English). Blocked shots--Portland 0; Hawaii 4 (Shimonovich 2, Martin 2). Turnovers--Portland 12 (Jorgusen 2, Aaker 2, Quick 2, Frandsen 2, Knight 2, Galos 2); Hawaii 13 (English 3, Campbell 3, McIntyre 3, Martin 2, Savovic, Vebobe). Officials--Thornley, Welmer, Cota. A--6296.
UH Athletics