Friday, December 31, 1999
’Bows hold
Ducks at bay; win
Classic 66-63
Predrag Savovic sparkles
By Pat Bigold
again as Hawaii wins the Rainbow
Classic for the second
time in three years
Star-BulletinAfter knocking off No. 19 Wake Forest and Gonzaga on consecutive nights, Oregon coach Ernie Kent can't be blamed for saying his Ducks deserve to be ranked next week.
But winning the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic outright proved to be a bridge too far.
The University of Hawaii men's basketball team defeated Oregon, 66-63, last night to win its sixth classic title in 36 years before 7,040 fans at Stan Sheriff Center.
"They didn't knock us off, baby," said senior team captain Marquette Alexander.
Tournament MVP Predrag Savovic led the Rainbows for the second night in a row, scoring 21 points. Savovic, who had 25 in a win against Colorado Wednesday night, once again helped secure the game at the foul line, hitting on eight of 10 chances, including three of four in the last minute.
Savovic opened the game by scoring eight points (including two treys) in the first three minutes, 40 seconds to get the Rainbows off and running to 32-28 halftime lead.
It was Hawaii's sixth straight win as the Rainbows continued to surprise their fans with a turnaround that's starting to look like the one the football team worked.
Hawaii was 3-10 at the end of 1998. The Rainbows are now 11-2.
After sweeping the three-game Nike Festival by an average margin of 20 points, the Rainbows had to go down to the wire to win each game in the Classic, starting with Nerijus Puida's last-second reverse layup against Bradley on Monday.
Savovic said he and his teammates now feel confident about opening the Western Athletic Conference season on the road at Texas-El Paso a week from Saturday.
"I know it was a problem for Hawaii to go on the road and win, but now we'll see," he said.
"It's amazing," said Alexander. "We have a brand new team but everybody just sticks together and we love each other. Period. That's the only reason why we win."
A.D. Smith was almost unstoppable for the Ducks (8-2), scoring 29 points, including 17 in the second half.
"It was just real tough on us," said Smith, whose team had to play on consecutive nights while Hawaii had a rest day during the classic. "We played well the first two games but they (Hawaii) stuck it out. They had a lead going into the last minute. But we did a pretty good job of getting a chance to tie it up."
Oregon had the ball with seven seconds left and set it up for Darius Wright, the team's best 3-point shooter.
But Wright's shot missed and Troy Ostler grabbed the rebound with one second left.
"They played pretty good defense on Darius," said Smith.
The Ducks outrebounded the Rainbows, 42-28, the first team to do that to Hawaii in six games. But the Rainbows outshot Oregon, 42 percent to 39 percent and committed three fewer turnovers (15).
More important, Hawaii converted six of Oregon's eight second half turnovers into 14 points.
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace praised the defensive job that the 6-foot-6 Savovic did on Oregon's top scoring guard, Alex Scales, who scored 26 in an upset of No. 19 Wake Forest Monday but who scored only four with Savovic guarding him.
Sales came in averaging 15.1 points a game.
On Wednesday, Savovic held highly regarded Jaquay Walls of Colorado to 12 points, four below his season average.
Wallace said Savovic repeated his game preparation ritual of the night before, going off campus to a friend's house to get a quieter sleep environment than in the dormitory.
"He slept until 11:30 in the morning so he could be mentally ready for a lot of minutes," said Wallace. Savovic was on the floor for 35 minutes against Oregon and 29 against Colorado.
"He really stepped up the last couple of games and became a big-time player," said Kent as he rushed out to catch a plane.
Savovic's offensive turnaround in the last two games was remarkable.
He entered the week shooting 41 percent from the floor and 30 percent from outside the arc.
He was averaging 8.1 points.
But against Colorado and Oregon, Savovic shot 11-for-20 from the field, 6-for-10 from 3-point range and averaged 23 points.
At the line, he was even more reliable, going 25-for-30 over three games.
He sank the winning free throws with 28 seconds left in a 76-74 victory over the Buffaloes.
Alexander chipped in 16 points and Ostler added 15 for Hawaii.
Colorado 81, Gonzaga 77:
Will Smith (17), Jaquay Walls (15), and Richard Fox (12) combined for 44 points as the Buffaloes (8-3) handed the Bulldogs (8-5) their second straight loss.
Villanova 70, Wake Forest 57:
The Wildcats (6-3) got 18 points from Malik Allen as the 19th-ranked Demon Deacons (9-3) suffered their second setback in three days.
Ohio 63, Bradley 52:
Sanjay Adell led Ohio (8-5) with 15 points as the Braves fell to 4-8.
Hawaii 66, Oregon 63
Ducks (8-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Smith 11 17 6 6 36 9 0 29 Wright 3 9 2 2 39 4 6 9 Lindquist 1 5 0 0 14 2 2 2 Scales 2 11 0 0 28 2 2 4 Hartenstein 1 3 1 1 23 9 0 3 Jones 5 13 0 1 32 2 2 11 Hicks 1 2 0 0 15 4 0 2 Norwood 1 3 1 2 8 1 2 3 Bracey 0 1 0 0 5 3 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 25 64 10 12 200 42 14 63Rainbows (11-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 5 10 8 10 35 6 1 21 White 5 12 0 0 31 0 4 10 Puida 0 3 0 0 30 4 3 0 Ostler 7 11 1 2 30 5 2 15 Alexander 6 11 4 5 30 7 1 16 McIntyre 0 2 0 0 20 1 1 0 McIntosh 0 3 1 2 9 4 0 1 G. Robinson 1 4 0 0 15 1 1 3 Team 0 Totals 24 56 14 19 200 28 13 66Key--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 32, Oregon 28.
3-point goals--Oregon 3-21 (Smith 1-3, Wright 1-4, Jones 1-5, Norwood 0-1, Lindquist 0-2, Scales 0-6); UH 4-14 (Savovic 3-6, Robinson 1-2, McIntyre 0-2, White 0-4). Personal fouls--Oregon 22, UH 15. Fouled out--Scales. Steals--Oregon 9 (Smith 5), UH 4 (Savovic, White, Puida, Alexander). Blocked shots--Oregon 0, UH 6 (Ostler 3). Turnovers--Oregon 18, UH 15. Officials--Eddie Jackson, Tom Rucker, Mark Whitehead. A-8,645.
Colorado 81, Gonzaga 77
GONZAGA: Frahm 12-24 7-14 32, Calvary 8-15 1-1 19, Dench 0-0 0-0 0, Nilson 0-1 0-0 0, Santangelo 4-14 0-0 10, Floyd 0-2 0-0 0, Sping 0-3 6-10 6, Gourde 4-9 1-2 9. Totals: 27-68 77COLORADO : Smith 7-10 3-6 17, Mosley 0-1 5-6 5, Fox 6-9 3-3 15, Winston 3-5 1-2 9, Walls 2-6 1-2 5. Totals: 28-49 20-29 81
Halftime--Gonzaga 43, Colorado 35.
3-Point goals--Gonzaga 12-30 (Frahm 7-14, Santangelo 3-9, Calvary 2-4, Nilson 0-1, Floyd 0-2), Colorado 5-12 (Williams 2-3, Winston 2-4, Mohr 1-2, Walls 0-3). Fouled out--Nilson. Rebounds--Gonzaga 31 (Santangelo 6), Colorado 36 (Fox 11), Assists--Gonzaga 22 (Santangelo 10), Colorado 11 (Winston, Pelle 3). Total fouls--Gonzaga 22, Colorado 21.
Villanova 70, No. 19 Wake Forest 57
WAKE FOREST: Songaila 2-6 8-10 12, Arinze 2-5 0-0 4, Vidaurreta 0-3 3-3 3, Howard 2-8 1-2 6, O'Kelley 5-16 1-1 12, Hicks 1-3 0-0 2, Scott 0-0 2-2 2, Dawson 2-8 0-0 6, Shoemaker 4-4 0-0 8, Decker 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-54 15-18 57.VILLANOVA: Wright 2-3 4-4 8, Allen 9-13 0-0 18, Medley 3-9 0-0 7, Lynch 4-14 1-1 11, Holley 0-2 0-0 0, Matthews 1-1 0-0 2, Sullivan 0-1 3-4 3, Buchanan 5-8 0-0 13, Sales 3-4 2-5 8. Totals 27-57 10-14 70.
Halftime--Villanova 36, Wake Forest 34.
3-Point goals--Wake Forest 4-15 (Dawson 2-4, Howard 1-1, O'Kelley 1-7, Vidaurreta 0-1, Hicks 0-2), Villanova 6-19 (Buchanan 3-5, Lynch 2-7, Medley 1-5, Holley 0-1, Sullivan 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Wake Forest 31 (Vidaurreta 6), Villanova 33 (Allen 7). Assists--Wake Forest 12 (Arinze 4), Villanova 13 (Wright, Lynch, Sales 3). Total fouls--Wake Forest 20, Villanova 19.
Ohio 63, Bradley 52
OHIO: Adell 6-10 3-4 15, Stonerook 2-5 2-2 7, Hunter 6-14 2-3 14, Ford 2-2 2-4 8, Jones 4-9 4-4 13, Howell 0-2 0-0 0, Reed 0-1 3-4 3, Crawford 0-1 0-0 0, Esterkamp 1-3 0-0 3, McVicker 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 21-50 16-21 63BRADLEY: Hall 1-4 0-2 2, Koita 0-1 0-0 0, Roberson 3-5 2-2 8, Robinson 1-6 0-0 2, Dye 3-10 1-2 7, Rabey 1-4 0-0 2, Clancy 0-1 0-0 0, Selby 5-9 2-3 12, Flanders 2-3 0-0 4, Hogue 1-1 0-0 2, Brown 5-9 0-0 10, Corbitt 1-3 1-2 3, Cage 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-57 6-11 52
Halftime--Ohio 30, Bradley 24.
3-Point goals--Ohio 5-12 (Ford 2-2, Jones 1-2, Esterkamp 1-2, Stonerook 1-3, Howell 0-1, Adell 0-2), Bradley 0-8 (Roberson 0-1, Selby 0-1, Dye 0-3, Robinson 0-3). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Ohio 34 (Jones, Adell, Hunter 6), Bradley 33 (Flanders 6). Assists--Ohio 12 (Stonerook 4), Bradley 9 (Roberson 3). Total fouls--Ohio 14, Bradley 23.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
