Tuesday, November 23, 1999

Associated Press
North Carolina guard Max Owen makes a pass over
USC guard Brandon Granville in the opening round
game of the Maui Invitational yesterday.

Close calls on Maui

Fifth-ranked North Carolina
and No. 7 Florida avoid opening-
round upsets in the 16th
Maui Invitational

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

LAHAINA - 'Tis the season for David to knock off Goliath in men's college basketball.

Two unranked challengers made serious runs at nationally ranked powers on the opening day of the 16th Maui Invitational yesterday at the Lahaina Civic Center.

Neither succeeded, but one came closer than the other.

No. 5 North Carolina allowed Henry Bibby's USC Trojans to chop the Tar Heels' 43-33 halftime lead to two points (54-52) with 11 minutes and 25 seconds left in the game.

But Ed Cota, the Tar Heels' brilliant point guard, engineered a 9-2 run in which he scored seven points, made a steal and a behind-the-back assist on Joseph Forte's slam dunk.

North Carolina (1-0) then pulled away for an 82-65 victory that put them in today's 4 p.m. semifinal against Georgetown (2-0).

No. 7 Florida (2-0) will face No. 24 Purdue (1-0) in today's other semifinal beginning at 2 p.m.

"I just took it upon myself to get in and penetrate a little bit," said Cota, whose run began after USC reeled off five straight misses inside the arc.

Cota, considered by many to be the NCAA's best point guard, was one of three Tar Heels to score 15 points (Max Owens and Brendan Haywood were the others).

Forte (4-for-4 from 3-point distance) led all scorers with 24 points.

Cota also had 10 assists and two steals.

"I said it before and I'll say it again, I wouldn't trade him for any other point guard in the country," said Tar Heels head coach Bill Guthridge.

USC, which will host Hawaii on Dec. 8, was led by Sam Clancy's 23 points.

Florida 60, Utah State 58:

It took a controversial block in the final 4.2 seconds by reserve forward Major Parker to save the Gators' status in the Associated Press poll.

Utah State (1-1) trailed, 59-58, when Troy Rolle left his feet in an attempt to deliver his fourth trey of the game. Parker raced in and got a hand on the ball, knocking it into the hands of teammate Brett Nelson to secure Florida's win.

"Was that a block?" Utah State Stew Morrill asked rhetorically after the game. "I've got my own opinion. It looked like the kid (Parker) ran at him (Rolle)."

Parker, who didn't score a point in the game despite being Florida's savior, said firmly, "It was a clean block."

Morrill said he wasn't satisfied with just coming close to the upset.

"A week from now, nobody will remember we played them close," said Morrill.

"Our kids should've won that basketball game. That's what I expected. There's no way we should be satisfied."

Georgetown 71, Memphis 55:

The Hoyas (2-0) turned a close game into a rout over the Tigers (0-1).

Georgetown's Kevin Braswell scored 17 points to spoil the debut of interim head coach Johnny Jones.

Purdue 96, Chaminade 78:

The Boilermakers (1-0) hammered the Silverswords, who are now 3-41 in the tournament they've hosted since 1984.

Brian Cardinal scored 29 points for the Boilermakers

Kenzie Weir, a senior forward, came off the bench to lead Chaminade with 22 points.

TOURNAMENT

Maui Invitational

First Round
Georgetown 71, Memphis 55
Florida 60, Utah St. 58
North Carolina 82, Southern Cal 65
Purdue 96, Chaminade 78

Purdue 96, Chaminade 78

PURDUE: Robinson 2-10 11-12 15, Cardinal 9-14 6-6 29, McQuay 5-11 3-5 13, Cornell 3-11 5-6 12, Cunningham 7-10 1-2 15, Smith 1-1 3-4 5, Lewis 0-3 2-2 2, Wetzal 0-1 0-0 0, Allison 2-3 1-1 5, Lowe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-64 32-38 96.

CHAMINADE: Hagwood 2-6 1-1 5, Martin 4-10 0-0 11, Krafels 4-7 0-2 10, Feeney 5-7 0-2 12, Murphy 3-9 0-0 7, Robinson 1-3 0-0 2, Cole 2-2 0-0 4, Weir 8-11 6-9 22, Toya 1-3 3-3 5, Krol 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-58 10-17 78.

Halftime--Purdue 44, Chaminade 38. 3-Point goals--Purdue 6-16 (Cardinal 5-6, Cornell 1-6, Cunningham 0-2, Lewis 0-2), Chaminade 8-21 (Martin 3-6, Feeney 2-2, Krafels 2-3, Murphy 1-5, Robinson 0-1, Weir 0-1, Toya 0-1, Hagwood 0-2). Fouled out--Hagwood, Martin. Rebounds--Purdue 36 (Cardinal 9), Chaminade 34 (Toya 8). Assists--Purdue 15 (Cunningham 7), Chaminade 11 (Feeney 8). Total fouls--Purdue 18, Chaminade 28. Technicals--Hagwood 2. A--2,500.

Florida 60, Utah St. 58

FLORIDA (2-0): Wright 0-2 0-0 0, Miller 4-12 1-2 10, Haslem 4-8 0-2 8, Dupay 3-9 3-4 11, Weeks 7-15 0-0 19, Harvey 3-5 0-0 6, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 1-6 0-0 2, Bonner 1-3 2-2 4, Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-60 6-10 60.

UTAH ST. (1-1): Daniels 4-6 2-5 10, Jorssen 5-7 2-3 12, Rock 2-6 0-0 5, Rolle 5-10 3-4 16, Brown 1-11 0-0 3, Stewart 1-3 0-1 2, Bailey 0-0 2-2 2, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Ray 1-3 1-1 3, Mahorn 1-2 3-6 5, Willden 0-0 0-0 0, Bobb 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-50 13-22.

Halftime--Florida 35, Utah St. 34. Rebounds--Florida 32 (Harvey 6), Utah St. 45 (Daniels 8). Assists--Florida 17 (Miller 5), Utah St. 13 (Rock 5). Total fouls--Florida 19, Utah St. 16. A--NA.

North Carolina 82, Southern Cal 65

NORTH CAROLINA (1-0): Owens 7-13 0-0 15, Capel 0-2 2-2 2, Haywood 7-7 1-2 15, Cota 6-7 2-2 15, Forte 9-12 2-2 24, Newby 0-1 0-0 0, Lang 2-5 0-1 4, Bersticker 3-4 1-2 7, Melendez 0-1 0-0 0, Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-52 8-11 82.

SOUTHERN CAL (1-1): Bluthenthal 3-7 0-1 6, Clancy 11-22 1-1 23, Scalabrine 5-13 2-4 13, Granville 6-16 0-0 15, Trepagnier 4-12 0-2 8, Turner 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Charissis 0-1 0-0 0, Hair 0-0 0-0 0, Thurston 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-73 3-8 65.

Halftime--North Carolina 43, Southern Cal 33. Rebounds--North Carolina 34 (Lang, Bersticker 7), Southern Cal 33 (Trepagnier 9). Assists--North Carolina 20 (Cota 10), Southern Cal 20 (Granville 11). Total fouls--North Carolina 13, Southern Cal 13. A--NA.

Georgetown 71, Memphis 55

GEORGETOWN: Burton 4-6 4-4 13, Gibson 0-1 0-1 0, Watkins 2-3 1-2 5, Perry 2-8 3-4 8, Braswell 5-11 5-6 17, Hunter 3-8 0-1 6, Boumtje-Boumtje 3-4 1-1 7, Freeman 2-5 0-2 4, Samnick 2-3 2-6 6, Hillier 0-2 3-6 3, Burns 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 23-52 21-35 71.

MEMPHIS: London 2-8 1-4 5, Forman 1-5 1-2 3, Harris 0-7 4-4 4, Shine 0-9 0-0 0, Moody 1-11 0-3 3, Barron 5-10 5-8 15, Trask 3-8 4-6 11, Jones 1-4 1-3 3, Chatman 0-3 0-1 0, Muvagh 3-7 4-4 11. Totals 16-72 20-35 55.

Halftime--Georgetown 32, Memphis 25. Rebounds--Georgetown 50 (Samnick 10), Memphis 52 (Barron 8). Assists--Georgetown 13 (Perry, Braswell 3), Memphis 3 (Moody, Trask, Chatman). Total fouls--Georgetown 30, Memphis 29. A--2,400.

COLLEGE MEN

BYU-Hawaii 86, Regis 55

BYU-HAWAII: Evans 17-21 3-4 40, Stilson 0-3 3-4 3, Baldwin 4-7 4-4 12, Barton 1-1 1-2 3, Joyce 7-13 0-1 17, Villa 0-4 0-0 0, Daley 1-2 0-0 2, Isom 3-5 0-0 6, Higby 0-2 2-4 2. Totals 33-58 13-19 86.

REGIS: Cain 4-6 0-1 8, Dicks 4-13 2-2 10, Tharpe 1-3 1-1 3, Smith 0-5 0-0 0, Bentz 8-17 2-3 21, LeDuff 2-4 1-1 5, Leary 0-0 0-0 0, Alexander 0-0 0-2 0, Farmer 1-5 1-2 3, White 1-4 3-5 5. Totals 21-57 10-17 55.

3-point goals--BYUH 7-12 (Evans 3-3, Joyce 3-6, Daley 1-2, Stilson 0-1), Regis 3-13 (Bentz 3-8, Dicks 0-1, LeDuff 0-1, Smith 0-3). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--BYUH 47 (Evans 8, Joyce 7, Stilson 7), Regis 22 (Dicks 5). Assists--BYUH 20 (Barton 8), Regis 14 (Bentz, LeDuff, Smith 3). Blocked shots--BYUH 1 (Evans), Regis 4 (Dicks, Smith, Tharpe, White). Turnovers--BYUH 15, Regis 11. Total fouls--BYUH 19, Regis 17. A--310.