Thursday, November 25, 1999

No cooling
these Heels

North Carolina wins the
Maui Invitational with a strong
second-half showing
against Purdue

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

LAHAINA -- Bill Guthridge looked out at the media from behind the imposing silver cup his No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels had just been awarded at the 16th Maui Invitational yesterday.

"I hope this won't be the highlight of the season," the third-year head coach said.

Guthridge, whose 24-10 team was upset by Weber State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last March, knows the road ahead will be strewn with mines.

He pointed out that the next stop is the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (Dec. 1), in which the Tar Heels must open with No. 3 Michigan State.

Seven days after that, they must contend with No. 1 Cincinnati.

North Carolina had to rally for the second day in a row to beat No. 22 Purdue, 90-75, at a packed and stifling Lahaina Civic Center last night.

"I thought we played tremendous basketball the second half," said Guthridge.

Trailing 39-34 at intermission, North Carolina freshman Joseph Forte scored 16 of his game-high 21 points.

Forte, who was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, averaged 20.6 points per game and showed amazing poise for a player who made his college debut only two days earlier.

Asked if he ever thought Forte would blossom this fast, Guthridge said, "I knew he was going to be a very good player but I didn't know how soon. He has a lot of basketball savvy and knows how to handle things."

Associated Press
Purdue center John Allison falls over the back of North
Carolina forward Kris Long as they battle for the ball
in the second half of the championship game
of the Maui Invitational.

Forte scored 24 points against USC and 17 against Georgetown.

"I played a lot of pickup with him prior to the season and I knew he would bring a lot to the table," said Tar Heels point guard Ed Cota, who shared all-tournament team honors with teammates Forte and 7-foot center Brendan Haywood.

Cota, whose seven assists made him North Carolina's all-time assist leader (769, one more than Kenny Smith had from 1983-87), was the catalyst in the Tar Heels' victories over USC and Georgetown this week. He finished the tournament with 50 points and 24 assists.

It was the first time in four Maui finals appearances that the Tar Heels had won. They lost to Missouri in 1989 and Villanova in 1995.

It was the third year in a row in which North Carolina and Purdue have met in a preseason tournament. They played in the final of the Great Alaska Shootout two years ago and the semifinals of the Preseason NIT last year. The Tar Heels have won all three times.

Jason Capel, the Tar Heels' 6-8 sophomore starting forward, scored five of his 11 points and assisted on another basket within a four-minute span that saw North Carolina turn its 39-34 halftime deficit into a 59-52 lead.

Capel hit a big 3-pointer with 17:14 left to give the Tar Heels their first lead of the game.

"Jason Capel is such a tremendous player," said Guthridge. "He's one of those who does all the little things. Dives on the floor, gets rebounds, guards real well. He did a very good job on (Brian) Cardinal."

Associated Press
North Carolina guard Ed Cota, left, is stopped from driving
the lane by Purdue guard Carson Cunningham in the first half.

This was actually Capel's third tournament championship in Hawaii. He led his St. John's at Prospect Hall (Md.) team to Iolani Classic titles in 1996 and 1997.

"I'm real familiar with Hawaii," he said. "It's fun to be out here but winning makes it a lot more fun."

Capel said he briefed his teammates on Honolulu when the team flew in last weekend.

"I knew exactly where the food places were and all that," he said. "I told the guys this is a beautiful place - beautiful water, beautiful women."

Losing Purdue head coach Gene Keady praised his 6-1 junior point guard, Carson Cunningham, who also made the all-tournament team.

Cunningham had 24 assists and only four turnovers in three games.

"Carson's not our problem," said Keady.

"We played about 100 minutes of good basketball and 20 minutes where we broke down," said Cunningham.

Scrappy forward Brian Cardinal, who keyed Tuesday's upset win over No. 6 Florida, scored 12 and had eight rebounds. He was also on the all-tournament team.

Florida 72, Georgetown 62:

The Gators' youth movement did some things to please head coach Billy Donovan yesterday and took third place with a victory over the Hoyas.

"One thing I'll say about our team today is they cared," said Donovan. "People don't understand what all the expectations in the media have done to our guys mentally."

Donovan has four freshmen and four sophomores on his team.

"They're way out of whack right now, they don't understand what it's all about. That's why this tournament was a great wakeup call. We could have played a lot easier teams early in the year and gotten into the SEC as 10-0 or 11-0. Then all of a sudden we'd lose four or five in a row."

Sophomore forward Mike Miller hit all five of his 3-point attempts and had a team-high 18 points.

NOTES:

The Maui Invitational had six officials who have worked the Final Four. They were Frank Bosone, Mike Sanzere, John Clougherty, Bob Donato, Jim Stupin and Scott Thomely.

There were scouts from 17 NBA teams at the tournament, including the Los Angeles Lakers' Jerry West.

COLLEGE MEN

FAR WEST

BYU 92, S. Utah 64
San Diego St. 73, UC Riverside 57
San Jose St. 62, UC Santa Barbara 41
St. Mary's, Cal. 66, Holy Names 48
Stanford 72, CS Bakersfield 31
UNLV 98, Nevada 79

TOURNAMENT

Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout

First Round

Georgia Tech 100, Grambling St. 88

Maui Invitational

Championship

North Carolina 90, Purdue 75

Third Place

Florida 72, Georgetown 62

Fifth Place

Utah St. 52, Southern Cal 50

Seventh Place

Memphis 83, Chaminade 65

Preseason NIT

Semifinals

Arizona 76, Notre Dame 60

Kentucky 61, Maryland 58

North Carolina 90, Purdue 75

NORTH CAROLINA: Owens 6-12 2-2 14, Capel 4-7 2-2 11, Haywood 4-5 0-0 8, Cota 5-8 3-4 15, Forte 7-13 4-4 21, Newby 0-2 0-0 0, Lang 3-6 1-2 7, Bersticker 6-7 0-1 12, Melendez 0-1 2-2 2, Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-61 14-17 90.

PURDUE: Robinson 6-12 0-0 12, Cardinal 5-11 1-4 12, McQuay 8-14 1-3 17, Cornell 5-14 1-2 14, Cunningham 5-15 1-1 11, SMith 1-2 2-2 4, Allison 1-3 2-2 4, Lewis 0-3 0-0 0, Wetzel 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 31-74 9-16 75.

Halftime--Purdue 39, North Carolina 34. Rebounds--North Carolina 32 (Haywood, Forte, Lang 6), Purdue 43 (McQuay 12). Assists--North Carolina 23 (Cota 7), Purdue 10 (Cunningham 7). Total fouls--North Carolina 16, Purdue 16. A--2,400.

Florida 72, Georgetown 62

FLORIDA: Miller 5-6 3-4 18, Haslem 5-9 3-4 13, Harvey 6-9 2-8 14, Dupay 1-4 3-4 6, Weaks 3-6 4-4 10, Parker 1-5 0-0 2, Nelson 2-6 2-2 7, Bonner 0-7 2-2 2, Hamilton 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 19-28 72.

GEORGETOWN: Gibson 0-0 0-0 0, Burton 1-9 0-0 3, Watkins 5-8 0-0 10, Perry 6-14 3-5 19, Braswell 7-17 7-8 23, Samnick 1-3 0-0 2, Freeman 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter 2-4 0-0 5, Boumtje Boumtje 0-2 0-1 0, Hillier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 10-14 62.

Halftime--Florida 33, Georgetown 33. Rebounds--Florida 41 (Bonner, Harvey 9), Georegtown 33 (Perry 7). Assists--Florida 14 (Weaks 4), Georegtown 13 (Braswell 5). Total fouls--Florida 17, Georegtown 22. Technical--Boumtje Boumtje. A--2,400.

Utah St. 52, Southern Cal 50

SOUTHERN CAL: Bluthenthal 6-10 0-0 14, Clancy 2-10 3-6 7, Scalabrine 4-6 1-3 10, Granville 0-10 0-1 0, Trepagnier 9-16 1-1 19, Jones 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 5-11 50.

UTAH ST.: Ray 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 1-6 4-4 7, Daniels 3-8 1-4 7, Rock 4-7 0-0 9, Rolle 4-9 1-2 11, Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Mahorn 4-8 2-3 10, Bailey 1-3 0-0 2, Bobb 0-0 0-0 0, Thomas 2-3 0-0 6. Totals 19-45 8-13 52.

Halftime--Utah St. 27, Southern Cal 22. Rebounds--USC 37 (Bluthenthal 9), Utah St. 31 (Daniels 9). Assists--USC 14 (Granville 10), Utah St. 12 (Rock 4). Total fouls--USC 13, Utah St. 16. A--2,400.

Memphis 83, Chaminade 65

MEMPHIS: London 3-7 5-10 11, Forman 1-3 0-0 2, Barron 4-7 9-9 17, Shine 4-9 5-6 15, Moody 8-13 1-2 17, Mulvagh 1-3 0-0 2, Trask 2-5 4-4 10, Jones 1-3 1-4 3, Chatman 2-2 0-1 4, Harris 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 27-54 25-36 83.

CHAMINADE: Hagwood 2-9 2-6 7, Martin 7-14 3-5 19, Krafels 3-10 0-0 8, Feeney 4-11 4-5 14, Murphy 4-16 4-4 13, Cole 1-4 0-0 2, Weir 1-8 0-0 2, Toya 0-1 0-0 0, Robinson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-74 13-20 65.

Halftime--Memphis 43, Chaminade 29. Rebounds--Memphis 47 (Barron 11), Chaminade 44 (Hagwood 9). Assists--Memphis 8 (Trask 6), Chaminade 13 (Feeney, Krafels 3). Total fouls--Memphis 14, Chaminade 24. A--2,400.