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Saturday, December 30, 2000

Volunteers cruise
by Hawkeyes

Thursday's brawl didn't
distract No. 6 Tennessee

Rainbows make final

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By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

If No. 6 Tennessee was wearied or distracted by its run-in with George Washington on Thursday night, the Volunteers didn't show it after nine minutes of play against No. 23 Iowa.

That's when the Volunteers began to rally from a 17-9 opening deficit with a 15-0 run that put head coach Jerry Green's team ahead for good.

Senior point guard Tony Harris, a Playboy preseason All-America, scored 20 points (16 in the second half) to lead four Vols in double figures as Tennessee (12-1) beat Iowa, 80-68, and moved into tonight's final of the 37th Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic against Hawaii (6-4).

Harris (seven assists, three turnovers) won his critical matchup with Iowa point guard Dean Oliver, a senior who had 10 points, six assists and two turnovers.

Reggie Evans, a junior who is the NCAA's leading rebounder, had a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) to lead the Hawkeyes (10-2).

"You can't shoot 39 percent if you're going to beat a Top 5 team," said Iowa head coach Steve Alford, referring to his team's 24-for-61 shooting from the field.

Tennessee shot 45 percent (27-for-60).

The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Vols, 43-35, but were outblocked, 10-1, and committed 18 turnovers (12 in the critical first half) to Tennessee's 13.

Leading Iowa scorer Luke Recker (20.3 points a game), playing with an injury, had his second straight poor shooting night. Recker, who had 10 points in a 69-68 squeaker against Detroit Mercy on Thursday, had only a 3-pointer on 1-for-7 shooting in last night's loss.

Evans put Iowa ahead by scoring the first three baskets of the game.

"Evans was a big load," said Green. "We had nobody to guard him."

But Jon Higgins (13 points), a sophomore starting guard who more than doubled his season average of 5.8 points, slowed down the Hawkeyes a bit by getting Tennessee on the board and then picking Evans' pocket in his next two forays to the hoop.

He later hit a 3-pointer that gave Tennessee its first lead of the game, 19-17, during the 15-0 run. He finished the half with eight points.

Tennessee ended the first half ahead, 33-22, with 6-foot-8 sophomore sixth man Ron Slay scoring 10 of his 16 points to lead the way.

But an 18-0 Tennessee run that began with five minutes left in the first half continued until the Vols had their biggest lead of the game, 44-22, with 2:50 gone in the second half.

In the run, Harris had two 3-pointers, three assists, and two defensive rebounds.

The Hawkeyes outscored the Vols, 31-14, over the next 11:27 to whittle the Vols advantage to 58-53.

But Harris potted a jumper and Higgins nailed his third trey to open it up again for Tennessee.

Tennessee 80, Iowa 68

Hawkeyes (10-2, 1-1 OHRC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	reb	a	tp	min
Worley	0	2	0	0	2	1	0	21
Reiner	2	3	1	3	5	1	5	20
Oliver	4	14	1	2	1	6	10	34
Recker	1	7	0	0	5	1	3	29
Evans	6	12	7	12	10	2	19	36
Hogan	3	11	2	2	2	1	8	21
Boyd	4	6	0	0	1	0	12	7
Henderson	3	4	3	3	4	1	9	13
Scott	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	6
Sonderleiter	1	2	0	0	3	0	2	13
Team	0	0	0	0	10	0	0	-
Totals	24	61	14	22	43	14	68	200

Volunteers (12-1, 2-0 OHRC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	reb	a	tp	min
Harris	7	14	4	5	3	7	20	30
Yarbrough	3	10	2	4	6	3	9	34
Higgins	4	6	2	2	7	0	13	27
Victor	3	7	5	7	3	2	11	30
Hathaway	1	1	0	0	3	1	2	24
Grindstaff	2	6	0	0	2	3	5	15
Walker	1	1	2	2	1	3	4	8
Haislip	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	7
Woods	0	3	0	0	2	1	0	7
Slay	6	11	3	4	5	0	16	18
Team	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	-
Totals	27	60	18	24	35	20	80	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 score-Tennessee 33, Iowa 22

3-point goals-Iowa 6-18 (Boyd 4-6, Oliver 1-7, Recker 1-4, Hogan 0-1), Tennessee 8-22 (Higgins 3-4, Harris 2-7, Yarbrough 1-3, Grindstaff 1-3, Slay 1-1, Woods 0-3, Haislip 0-1). Personal fouls-Iowa 18, Tennessee 20. Fouled out-Hathaway. Steals-Iowa 4 (Evans 3, Hogan), Tennessee 5 (Higgins 2, Yarbrough, Victor, Grindstaff). Blocked shots-Iowa 1 (Reiner), Tennessee 10 (Yarbrough 3, Hathaway 3, Haislip 2, Victor, Slay). Turnovers-Iowa 18 (Evans 5, Worley 4, Reiner 3, Oliver 2, Henderson 2, Recker, Boyd), Tennessee 13 (Harris 3, Hathaway 3, Victor 2, Haislip 2, Yarbrough, Higgins, Slay). Technicals-none. Officials-Burr, White, Hu.

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Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic

Semifinals

Hawaii 75, Saint Louis 67

Tennessee 80, Iowa 68

Consolation Bracket

Detroit 63, George Washington 50

Texas A&M 72, Manhattan 64

Consolation games

Texas A&M 72, Manhattan 64

TEXAS A&M (4-6): Bean 1-1 4-8 6, Anderson 10-16 2-4 22, C.Brown 2-8 2-2 6, B.King 3-7 9-14 17, Leatherman 3-9 3-3 11, J.King 1-4 0-0 2, Gilchrist 1-4 6-8 8, Butterfras 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 26-39 72.

MANHATTAN (3-6): D.Brown 5-16 4-6 15, Seals 3-10 2-2 9, J.Johnson 3-6 2-3 8, Jackette 5-15 3-4 17, Green 4-10 0-0 8, Holmes 0-1 1-2 1, M.Johnson 1-4 0-0 3, Haynes 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 21-62 12-18 64.

Halftime--Texas A&M 41, Manhattan 37. 3-Point goals--Texas A&M 4-16 (B.King 2-5, Leatherman 2-7, J.King 0-1, Gilchrist 0-1, Anderson 0-2), Manhattan 10-26 (Jackette 4-9, Green 3-6, M.Johnson 1-2, D.Brown 1-4, Seals 1-5). Fouled out--J.Johnson. Rebounds--Texas A&M 50 (Anderson 15), Manhattan 29 (Brown 7). Assists--Texas A&M 8 (B.King 5), Manhattan 15 (Brown 5). Total fouls--Texas A&M 19, Manhattan 25. Technical foul--D.Brown. A--NA.

Detroit-Mercy 63, George Washington 50

DETROIT (9-4): Riggs 2-6 6-8 10, Mazur 2-2 0-2 4, Phillips 4-14 10-10 21, Grays 3-13 1-2 9, Belin 3-3 0-0 6, Harmon 0-2 0-0 0, Maxwell 2-3 1-2 5, Napoleon 0-0 1-2 1, Green 1-4 5-7 7. Totals: 17-47 24-33 63

GEORGE WASHINGTON (5-6): Ngongba 2-6 102 6, Cosby 3-11 0-0 6, Monroe 6-16 3-4 17, Brown 1-12 1-3 4, King 3-8 2-3 8, Barrow 1-5 0-0 2, Miller 1-1 0--0 2, Iturbe 0-1 0-0 0, Chandler 1-4 0-0 3, Team 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 19-65 8-13 50

Halftime--Detroit 33, George Washington 23. 3-Point goals--Detroit 5-18 (Phillips 3-10, Grays 2-8), George Washington 4-20 (Monroe 2-6, Brown 1-4, Chandler 1-4, Cosby 0-1, Barrow 0-1, Ngongba 0-1, King 0-3). Fouled out--Monroe, King. Rebounds--Detroit 41 (Riggs, Belin 7), George Washington 37 (Monroe, Cosby 7). Assists--Detroit 7 (Phillips 3), George Washington 8 (Barrow 3). Total fouls--Detroit 18, George Washington 22. A--NA.

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UH Athletics
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