Thursday, December 30, 1999

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
UH associate head coach Bob Nash pumps his fist during last
night's semifinal victory over Colorado in the Rainbow Classic.
Nash coached the win after UH head coach Riley Wallace
was ejected from the game early in the first period. It was
Wallace's first ejection in 13 years of coaching.

Predrag Savovic
sparks the Rainbows over
Colorado and into the
Rainbow Classic final

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

On a day when you didn't think it could get any wilder at the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic, Predrag Savovic and the University of Hawaii men's basketball team lost a head coach but clawed out a berth in the finals anyway.

Savovic, a redshirt sophomore from Montenegro, scored a career-high 25 points, including two critical free throws with 28 seconds left, to lead the upstart Rainbows (10-2) to a 76-74 shocker over Colorado (7-3) last night in front of 6,406 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center in the classic semifinals.

Hawaii, which will meet Oregon (8-1) of the Pac-10 in the championship at 7:30 tonight, has reached the final for the 13th time in 36 years.

Hawaii's fifth and most recent Rainbow Classic title came in 1997 in an upset against Kansas (76-65).

RAINBOW CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP Who: Hawaii vs. Oregon When: Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Where: "The Stanley," Stan Sheriff Center, UH Broadcast: KFVE-TV, KCCN-AM RealAudio: Click here

The Rainbows' win was the fourth nail-biter of the day. The Ducks came down to the last minute to beat Gonzaga, 70-64, in the other semifinal. In consolation bracket play, No. 19 Wake Forest took two overtimes to beat Ohio, 84-78, and Villanova handed Bradley another disappointing loss, 63-62, in overtime.

It was Hawaii's second straight down-to-the wire win. On Monday, the Rainbows beat Bradley, 67-63, with two baskets in a little more than a second before the buzzer.

Last night, Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace received his first game ejection in 13 years when the Colorado game was only 4 minutes and 46 seconds old and Hawaii was trailing, 10-8.

Referee Mark Bakko handed Wallace the first technical when he collided with him on the sideline and Bakko interpreted it as intentional on Wallace's part.

The heave-ho came a moment later when Bakko interpreted a Wallace gesture as a choke sign.

The incident happened shortly after Savovic took a huge hit from Will Smith, who was whistled for the foul.

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Nerijus Puida faces a Buffalo defender.

"They actually did us a favor when they ejected him," said Savovic, indicating that the ejection fired up the Rainbows. "When coach went out of the game, I knew we needed to stick together. We just stepped up all together. He's been teaching me for two years and now it was time to learn."

Troy Ostler, who had 19 points and nine rebounds, agreed.

"It (the ejection) definitely was a motivator," he said. "We knew we had to come out and play the game for coach the way he wanted us to play it, and we did. It put a little fire under our butts."

Savovic, who had four fouls, scored 10 points in the last 4:30 of the game, starting a 13-8 stretch run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key that tied it at 66-66.

He had two steals and a block in the run, and was 4-for-4 from the line when Hawaii needed every point.

"Savo went off campus to a friend's house to sleep where it was quieter last night (Tuesday) so he could get ready," said Wallace. "He slept in late."

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Predrag Savovic, left and Nerijus Puida congratulate
each other after the narrow Rainbow victory.

Savovic looked like a Hollywood stunt man on some of his moves, and Ostler collected some bruises of his own while giving up 45 pounds to 6-11, 250-pound freshman center Richard Fox. At one point in the second half, he took an elbow to the throat that floored him.

"It took my breath away for a minute and I couldn't even hardly swallow," said Ostler.

Fox, who led Colorado with a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds), said he gained respect for Ostler. "Give him all the credit," he said.

Colorado had a chance to tie it in the final seconds as Hawaii missed an alley-oop play and Walls rebounded. He got off a shot that bounced off the rim on the other end. Ernest Renfroe followed with a missed layup as the buzzer sounded.

Oregon 70, Gonzaga 64:

A.D. Smith scored 22 points, including 11 in the last 10 minutes, as the Ducks stunned the Bulldogs, their second upset in two days.

Casey Calvary led Gonzaga with 16 points.

Villanova 63, Bradley 62:

Gary Buchanan scored 23 points and Malik Allen added 10 as the Wildcats (5-3) slipped past the Braves (4-7) in overtime.

Rob Dye led Bradley with 15 points.

Wake Forest 84, Ohio 78:

Robert O'Kelley and Josh Howard had 17 points apiece to lead the Demon

Deacons (9-2) to a double-overtime victory over the Bobcats. Shaun Stonebrook paced Ohio with 25 points and had 17 rebounds.

Hawaii 76, Colorado 74

Buffaloes (7-3)

		fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Winston		3	6	0	0	37	4	4	7
Walls		2	12	8	10	29	0	2	12
Mosley		4	10	5	5	31	7	1	13
Smith		0	3	1	2	15	2	0	1
Fox		9	15	0	0	37	11	1	18
Williams	3	4	0	1	14	0	1	7
Renfroe		0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0
Mohr		4	8	2	2	23	2	2	12
Pelle		2	4	0	0	11	3	1	4
Thomas		0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0
	Team	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	Totals	27	64	16	20	200	31	12	74

Rainbows (10-2)

		fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Savovic		6	10	10	12	29	1	1	25
White		2	3	0	0	40	2	7	4
Puida		0	1	2	2	38	6	4	2
Ostler		7	15	5	6	27	9	0	19
Alexander	4	5	2	2	24	2	1	10
McIntyre	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0
McIntosh	4	12	0	0	16	10	2	8
G. Robinson	2	4	2	2	13	1	0	6
O'Connor	0	2	2	2	5	1	0	2
Fields		0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0
	Team	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	Totals	25	53	17	23	200	38	17	67

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-Colorado 41, Hawaii 40.

3-point goals--Colorado 4-14 (Mohr 2-5, Winston 1-2, Williams 1-2, Smith 0-1, Walls 0-4); UH 3-5 (Savovic 3-4, O'Connor 0-1). Personal fouls--Colorado 22, UH 21. Fouled out--Smith. Technical fouls-Mosley, Alexander, UH coach Wallace 2. Steals--Colorado 10 (Winston 3, Walls 3), UH 6 (Puida 3). Blocked shots--Colorado 0, UH 4 (Savovic 1, Puida 1, Ostler 1, McIntosh 1). Turnovers--Colorado 19, UH 23. Officials--Eddie Jackson, Winston Stith, Mark Bakko. A-8,349.

Oregon 70, Gonzaga 64

OREGON: Scales 1-12 0-0 2, Smith 8-12 5-6 22, Hartenstein 1-1 0-0 2, Lindquist 1-6 2-2 5, Wright 7-12 2-2 20, Jones 1-6 0-0 2, Hicks 1-1 0-0 2, Norwood 1-2 0-0 2, Bracey 4-5 4-4 13. Totals: 25-57 13-14 70

GONZAGA: Frahm 2-7 1-2 5, Calvary 4-8 7-15 16, Dench 3-7 0-0 6, Nilson 3-5 2-2 8, Santangelo 2-12 0-2 6, Floye 2-3 2-2 6, Spink 2-2 1-2 5, Gourde 5-7 2-2 12. Totals: 23-51 15-27 64

Halftime--Oregon 34, Gonzaga 34.

3-Point goals--Oregon 7-23 (Wright 4-7, Bracey 1-1, Smith 1-2, Lindquist 1-4, Norwood 0-1, Scales 0-4, Jones 0-4), Gonzaga 3-15 (Santangelo 2-7, Calvary 1-2, Nilson 0-1, Dench 0-1, Floyd 0-1, Frahm 0-3). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Oregon 28 (Scales 9), Gonzaga 35 (Dench 9). Assists--Oregon 16 (Jones 7), Gonzaga 12 (Santangelo 7). Total fouls--Oregon 21, Gonzaga 15.

No. 19 Wake Forest 84, Ohio 78 (2OT)

OHIO: Adell 5-10 4-7 15, Stonerook 7-13 7-10 24, Hunter 1-3 0-0 2, Jones 5-13 3-4 13, Ford 3-8 0-0 8, Esterkamp 2-6 4-4 10, McVicker 3-4 0-2 6. Totals 26-57 18-27 78.

WAKE FOREST: Shoemaker 2-5 1-2 5, Arinze 3-9 2-4 17, Vidaurreta 2-2 1-2 5, Howard 5-11 6-8 17, O'Kelley 6-19 4-6 17, Hicks 2-4 0-0 5, Fitzpatrick 0-1 0-0 0, Songaila 4-6 4-6 12, Scott 2-4 0-0 4, Dawson 3-10 4-4 11. Totals 29-71 22-32 84.

Halftime--Wake Forest 30, Ohio 29. End of regulation--Wake Forest 68, Ohio 68. End of first overtime--Wake Forest 74, Ohio 74.

3-Point goals--Ohio 8-23 (Stonerook 3-5, Ford 2-6, Esterkamp 2-6, Adell 1-2, McVicker 0-1, Jones 0-3), Wake Forest 4-17 (Howard 1-1, Hicks 1-2, O'Kelley 1-6, Dawson 1-7, Shoemaker 0-1). Fouled out--Stonerook, McVicker, Songaila. Rebounds--Ohio 40 (Stonerook 17), Wake Forest 35 (Vidaurreta 8). Assists--Ohio 17 (Ford, Stonerook 5), Wake Forest 10 (Arinze 4). Total fouls--Ohio 26, Wake Forest 21. Technical fouls--Ohio bench.

Villanova 63, Bradley 62 (OT)

VILLANOVA: Wright 0-4 1-2 1, Holley 0-2 0-0 0, Allen 5-15 0-1 10, Smith 3-3 0-0 6, Lynch 1-11 5-6 7, Medley 1-2 0-0 2, Sullivan 1-6 3-4 5, Buchanan 7-13 7-7 25, Sales 2-10 3-4 7, Caouette 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-67 19-24 63

BRADLEY: Cage 2-9 4-4 8, Koita 1-2 3-4 5, Roberson 4-10 0-0 9, Clancy 0-2 0-0 0, Dye 5-13 3-4 15, Selby 5-19 1-4 13, Flanders 3-4 0-0 6, Hall 1-3 0-0 2, Robinson 1-2 0-0 2, Brown 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 23-63 11-16 62

Halftime--Bradley 28, Villanova 22. End of regulation--Bradley 55, Villnova 55.

3-Point goals--Villanova 4-20 (Buchanan 4-8, Sales 0-1, Medley 0-1, Caouette 0-1, Holley 0-2, Lynch 0-7), Bradley 5-16 (Selby 25, Dye 2-6, Roberson 1-3, Clancy 0-2). Fouled out--Roberson. Rebounds--Villanova 52 (Allen 17), Bradley 37 (Robinson 7). Assists--Villanova 8 (Lynch, Medley, Buchanan 2), Bradley 14 (Roberson 5). Total fouls--Villanova 18, Bradley 23.

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