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Friday, February 4, 2000
Another savvy
performance
for Rainbows
Predrag Savovic scores
By Pat Bigold
23 points to lead Hawaii
past Texas-El Paso
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii is famous for cloning mice.
But last night, there were signs throughout the Stan Sheriff Center that Predrag Savovic had been cloned.
"I am Savo" was the message on each sign.
If it was true, Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace wouldn't have any problem with it.
Savovic, a 23-year-old Serbian from Montenegro, came through in another clutch situation, scoring 23 points and handing out four assists as the Rainbows avenged their Jan. 8 loss at Texas-El Paso with an 85-76 victory over the Miners before 3,573 fans.
Hawaii improved to 4-3 in the Western Athletic Conference and 15-5 overall while the Miners fell to 2-5 in the WAC and 11-9 overall.
Hawaii will host Jerry Tarkanian's Fresno State Bulldogs tomorrow night. Last night, Fresno State (5-1, 15-7) squeezed past San Jose State (2-4, 11-10) in overtime, 82-76.
Marquette Alexander scored in double digits for the 15th straight time and had his third double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
"He had a big game for us and turned it on defensively at a point," said Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace.
Brandon Wolfram led UTEP with 22 points and William Smith added 18.
Point guard Eggie McRae, who was a major factor with 23 points in the game at El Paso, was held to two points with Hawaii point guard Johnny White playing him most of the night.
Savovic began his second-half scoring just when Hawaii needed it most.
UTEP had cut the lead to 48-47 with 15 minutes left on an 8-0 run. Savovic ignited a 7-0 Hawaii run with a 3-pointer with 14:10 left. Nerijus Puida then drove the middle and placed a finesse, no-look pass in the hands of Scott Ostler for a slam.
Alexander blocked a shot at the other end and Puida led the break with McRae grabbing him under the basket in desperation. Puida made the layup anyway to increase the Hawaii lead to 55-47, but missed the free throw.
"You can't relax on them," said Wallace. "They're the best shooting team in the WAC if you give them wide open jumpers."
The Miners are No. 2 in the WAC in field-goal percentage at 48 percent.
McRae and Wolfram answered the Rainbows' run with consecutive baskets to cut the lead back to 55-51.
But Savovic wanted the ball again and he drove hard for a foul by Rico Nelson. He converted both free throws.
Hawaii then increased its lead to 59-51 as Mike McIntyre grabbed a defensive rebound and made the quick outlet pass to a streaking Savovic, who laid it in.
Savovic gave the Rainbows their biggest lead of the night (65-53) and brought the house down with roars as he took Bernard McIntosh's outlet off an inbound steal and slammed home the points at the other end.
"Some people think I can't slam," said Savovic.
His most spectacular non-scoring moment came after Wolfram had closed the lead to 44-37.
The 6-foot-6 sophomore lost the ball under his own basket but caught up with the two-man break, stole the ball, and hurled it to Alexander, who laid it in.
Savovic gave the crowd a scare when he slipped in the last minute and seemed to have pulled a groin muscle. He appeared fine outside the locker room while talking to reporters.
"I am OK," he said. "It's not a problem."
Wallace agreed.
But when asked if Savovic will be ready to defend the NCAA's leading scorer, Courtney Alexander, Wallace said, "We'll wait and see."
As for Savovic, he indicated he'll be ready and added, "We'll see whose army is going to win."
Hawaii committed 18 turnovers to UTEP's 14, but Wallace said that was a bit misleading.
"I think four turnovers out of the 18 were offensive fouls, so you really only had 14 times we threw it away," said Wallace.
"I can live with 14 turnovers the way we've been playing all year."
ConferenceOverall WAC men
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Tulsa 6 1 .857 21 2 .913 Fresno State 5 1 833 15 7 .682 SMU 4 3 .571 16 5 .762 Hawaii 4 3 .571 15 5 .750 TCU 4 3 .571 13 10 .565 San Jose State 2 4 .333 11 10 .524 UTEP 2 5 .286 11 9 .550 Rice 0 7 .000 4 14 .222
Miners (11-9, 2-5 WAC) Hawaii 85, Texas-El Paso 76
fg fga ft fta reb a tp min Mullahon 5 12 0 0 2 2 10 38 Smallwood 6 11 2 2 7 0 15 28 Wolfram 8 14 6 8 6 3 22 35 Smith 8 14 2 2 2 3 18 35 McRae 1 3 0 0 2 6 2 33 Nelson 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 8 Luces 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 6 Escobedo 1 1 2 2 3 0 4 17 Team 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 31 59 12 14 23 15 76 200 Rainbows (15-5, 4-3)
fg fga ft fta reb a tp min Savovic 8 11 6 6 1 4 23 32 White 1 4 3 5 1 1 5 30 Puida 4 6 0 1 4 4 9 30 Ostler 2 7 6 6 4 1 11 23 Alexander 7 10 5 6 11 4 19 35 McIntyre 1 2 2 2 2 1 5 10 McIntosh 1 3 0 0 1 3 2 12 Robinson 4 5 2 2 1 1 11 19 O’Connor 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 Fields 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 Team 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Totals 28 50 24 28 29 19 85 200 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 43, Texas-El Paso 35
3-point goals--UTEP 2-15 (Nelson 1-3, Smallwood 1-4, Smith 0-1, McRae 0-1, Mullahon 0-6), UH 5-10 (Ostler 1-1, Robinson 1-1, Puida 1-2, McIntyre 1-2, Savovic 1-3). Personal fouls--UTEP 21, UH 16. Fouled out--McRae. Steals--UTEP 10 (McRae 3), UH 5 (White 2). Blocked shots--UTEP 2 (Smallwood 2), UH 1 (Alexander 1). Turnovers--UTEP 14, UH 18. Officials--Ron Zetcher, Milt Stowe, Mike Littlewood. A-6,446.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
