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Senior ’Bows Instead of a podium for the ceremony, there was a hug and a basketball from coach Riley Wallace, and the rim looming ahead for one last shot on the home court.
get the gold
Savovic, Burneika and McIntyre
go out in style with a 79-50 routBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com
There were no medals around their necks, only lei. Dozens of lei.
Salt Lake City holds the closing ceremonies for the Winter Olympics tonight. But it may be hard-pressed to match the emotion of last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Last night, an ocean away from Utah, thousands of fans stayed to see what international competition is all about -- friendship and working together for a common goal. Had this been a medal ceremony, the flags of the U.S. (Mike McIntyre), Yugoslavia (Predrag Savovic) and Lithuania (Mindaugas Burneika) would have been raised evenly, with the three seniors sharing the top step.
The Hawaii basketball team gave its senior trio an appropriate sendoff, crunching Rice 79-50 to remain atop the Western Athletic Conference standings by a half-game. The Rainbows (23-4, 14-2) finished the home WAC season 9-0 and undefeated for the first time in 23 conference campaigns.
"It's a special group," said Wallace, the words catching in his throat. "All three of them get credit for our win tonight. This is the winningest WAC team we've ever had and a big part of that are those three right there.
"All our Senior Nights have been special, but, with the win and the crowd, it was a great night."
The special night saw Savovic break the school's 3-point record of 161 belonging to Alika Smith. The all-America candidate hit two of Hawaii's nine treys, hitting the milestone No. 162 with 10:43 left in the game, putting Hawaii ahead 54-30.
Burneika, his teammates feeding him the ball as often as possible, finished with a season-high 20 points. The highlight was a breakaway slam with 13:22 left in the game, a rare dunk for the forward that put Hawaii up 48-30.
McIntyre, struggling with his shot after a moped accident left him with a scraped right shooting arm, went scoreless until hitting two free throws with 6:11 left. The supportive crowd of 9,010 (9,807 turnstile) groaned as he missed 12 shots from the field, but he sank all six of his free-throw attempts.
His teammates tried their hardest to get the ball into McIntyre's hands. The best example came when Savovic stole the ball and tossed it to a streaking Burneika, who then flipped it over his head to McIntyre for a (failed) 3-point shot.
It was Hawaii's 12th consecutive victory at home, the 23rd in 24 games. It was also the Rainbows' 16th consecutive WAC home win, dating back to last season.
"It's been a great journey," said Savovic. "I love Hawaii. The fans are the best in the country, the best in the world. It's been amazing to be here."
The Rainbows hit six 3-pointers in the first half en route to a 37-24 lead.
Carl English, who was 5 of 7 against Tulsa on Thursday, was 5 of 7 in the opening 20 minutes. The sophomore guard hit three consecutive treys during an 11-2 run that gave the Rainbows the lead for good, 14-6, with 14:32 left before intermission.
The Owls closed to 22-19 on a jumper by Brandon Evans with 8:25. But Rice didn't score for nearly four more minutes, while English scored five of his 17 first-half points to help Hawaii to a 9-0 spurt and a 31-19 lead with 5:14 to go.
English finished with a game-high 21 and Savovic added 12.
For the Owls (10-17, 5-12), Jason McKrieth scored eight of his team's last 12 points to finish with a team-high 13.
Omar-Seli Mance added 11 and Michael Harris 10 for Rice, held to its second-lowest offensive total this WAC season.
It was a physical night, with Rice ending up on the losing end. A frustrated Rashid Smith was hit with his second technical and was tossed with 6:11 to go, leading to McIntyre's first two points.
Last night, there was no French judge to provide any controversy. Three golds were awarded.
Notes: The festivities last night included the crowd singing "Happy Birthday" to junior forward Paul Jesinskis, who turns 21 today. ... The players stayed long after the game to sign autographs for fans. ... The best senior dunk of the night was McIntyre's windmill dunk although Savovic was also impressive. The crowd chanted, "Savo, Savo" after his dunk. He bowed several times, blowing kisses to the crowd, before he and the other two seniors took a final lap around the arena.
WAC STANDINGS
Yesterday
Conference Overall W L PCT GB W L PCT Hawaii 14 2 .875 -- 23 4 .852 Tulsa 14 3 .823 12 23 5 .821 La. Tech 12 4 .750 2 18 8 .692 SMU 9 7 .562 5 14 12 .539 Fresno St 8 8 .500 6 17 12 .586 Nevada 8 8 .500 6 15 11 .577 Boise St 5 11 .312 9 11 15 .423 Rice 5 12 .294 912 10 17 .370 UTEP 3 13 .188 11 10 19 .345 San Jose St 3 13 .188 11 8 20 .286
Hawaii 79, Rice 50
Louisiana Tech 86, Nevada 83, OT
Fresno St. 86, SMU 78
Boise St. 81, UTEP 72
Tulsa 82, San Jose St. 72
HAWAII 79, RICE 50
OWLS (10-17, 5-12) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Mance 4 7 2 3 25 2 1 11 Smith 1 6 2 5 29 4 2 4 Tyndell 1 8 1 2 35 3 1 3 Harris 5 8 0 0 32 12 2 10 Diene 2 5 0 2 19 5 0 4 Gillespie 0 2 1 2 9 0 1 1 Evans 1 3 0 0 24 4 1 2 McKenzie 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 Kollik 0 1 2 2 2 0 0 2 McKrieth 6 12 0 0 21 2 0 13 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 20 52 8 16 200 36 9 50 RAINBOWS (23-4, 14-2) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 4 14 2 2 31 7 6 12 Martin 2 4 0 0 16 2 0 4 Shimonovich 2 5 0 1 21 5 2 4 Campbell 0 1 0 0 25 2 6 0 English 6 9 4 5 32 5 0 21 McIntyre 0 12 6 6 25 1 0 6 Lombard 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Takaki 0 1 2 4 1 0 0 2 Burneika 6 11 7 8 30 7 0 20 Holliday 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Pickart 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Jesinskis 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 4 Akpan 1 3 3 4 5 3 0 6 Team 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 Totals 23 63 24 30 200 41 14 79 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 -- Hawaii 37, Rice 24
3-point goals -- Rice 2 (Mance, McKrieth); UH 9 (English 5, Savovic 2, Burneika, Akpan). Personal fouls -- Rice 25, UH 19. Fouled out -- Mance, Smith. Technical fouls -- Smith 2. Steals -- Rice 3(Smith, Evans, McKrieth), UH 8 (Martin 4, Burneika 2, Savovic). Blocked shots -- Rice 3 (Smith, Harris, Evans), UH 2 (Shimonovich, Burneika). Turnovers -- Rice 17 (Smith 4, Mance 3, McKenzie 3, McKrieth 2, Tyndell, Harris, Diene, Gillespie, Evans), UH 6 (Shimonovich, Campbell, English, McIntyre, Burneika, Akpan).
Officials -- Zetcher, Walker, Peterson. A -- 9,010.
UH Athletics