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Monday, January 29, 2001
TULSA, Okla. -- Predrag Savovic did his best to pump up the ratings for the first national telecast of Western Athletic Conference basketball this season. Rainbows
break down againBy Mike Brown
Special to the Star-BulletinHe almost started a brawl.
Savovic waited little more than a minute of yesterday's Tulsa-Hawaii game before shoving Tulsa guard Marcus Hill in the chest.
He was just trying to fire up the Rainbows, who were desperate to win their first road game of the year.
But the ploy backfired and Tulsa, playing for second place in the conference, wore down the Rainbows, 79-67 before 8,096 at the University of Tulsa's Reynolds Center and a Fox Sports Net national TV audience.
Savovic matched teammate Troy Ostler for game-high honors with 20 points, despite being benched for 5 1/2 minutes pushing Hill."Savovic is a very nice kid, he was just trying to set the pace, but I don't want that," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "I wanted him to play straight up. So we got him out and let him get his head together."
"He elbowed me in the chest like the first or second trip down the court," Hill said. "It was a shocker but I held my composure and I knew that was part of their game plan as foreigners to try and get you out of your game."
"I tried to get (Hill) out of the game," said Savovic, a native of Yugoslavia. "Yeah, I did (shove him) -- nothing hard or to hurt him, but just to push him a little."
Savovic spent most of the remainder of the game trying to lead a comeback. Tulsa took the lead for good 33-31 on a 3-pointer by David Shelton with 2:08 left in the first half and led 54-43 after a 9-0 run with 14:24 left to play.
Hawaii battled back, slashing the lead to 59-58 on a basket by Nerijus Puida with 8:16 left. But then the Warriors, who have been on the road since flying to Los Angeles last Monday, seemed to run out of gas.
They missed shots on two trips with a chance to take the lead and then Tulsa's Dante Swanson hit a 3-pointer and followed with another for a 65-60 lead with 6:23 to go. Golden Hurricane reserve forward Charlie Davis scored a three-point play with 3:01 left and it was 72-65.
"We feel like we played a real good game, but there's certain points in the game where we get mental lapses," Ostler said. "We did it against Rice (in a 70-64 loss on Thursday night) and we did it again here."
Shelton led Tulsa with 18 points. Kevin Johnson had 16 points and 14 rebounds, notching his fourth double-double of the season. Hill scored 14 and Swanson added 11, all in the second half.
Tulsa (14-6, 5-2) won its fourth straight game and moved into sole possession of second place in the WAC. Hawaii, losing its fifth straight on the road, fell to 8-10 and 2-5.
"Ostler and Savovic are great scorers. Sometimes, you just have to let them get their 20 and make sure (nobody else) hurts you," Tulsa coach Buzz Peterson said.
"Seven days on the road, the time change, it all has an effect," Savovic said. "But we can't look for excuses. We just broke down three or four minutes during that stretch and (Tulsa) pumped it up and that was the difference."
Rainbows (8-10, 2-5 WAC) Tulsa 79, Hawaii 67
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 3 5 1 1 23 4 2 7 Puida 3 9 0 0 37 11 5 6 Ostler 8 16 4 4 35 4 1 20 Savovic 9 14 0 0 28 6 3 20 Hilton 1 3 0 0 29 1 2 3 McIntyre 3 9 0 0 24 1 0 7 Terrell 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Burneika 0 6 4 5 21 2 2 4 English 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 O’Connor 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Fields 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 27 62 9 10 200 31 15 67 Golden Hurricanes (14-6, 5-2 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Hill 4 12 4 4 33 6 4 14 Johnson 7 13 2 3 33 14 1 16 Ingram 1 2 0 0 11 3 0 2 Swanson 4 6 0 0 29 3 1 11 Harrington 1 5 4 4 33 5 8 7 Davis 2 2 2 3 16 6 0 6 Reed 1 8 3 3 20 0 1 5 Parker 0 3 0 0 6 0 0 0 Shelton 6 11 4 4 19 3 0 18 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 26 62 19 21 200 41 15 79 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--Tulsa 38, Hawaii 31.
3-point goals--Hawaii 4-19 (Savovic 2-4, Hilton 1-3, McIntyre 1-7, Puida 0-2, Burneika 0-3); Tulsa 8-17 (Swanson 3-4, Shelton 2-3, Hill 2-6, Harrington 1-1, Reed 0-3). Personal fouls--Hawaii 20, Tulsa 13. Fouled out--Savovic. Technical fouls-None. Steals--Hawaii 8 (Savovic 4, Burneika 2, McIntyre, Ostler), Tulsa 7 (Johnson 2, Shelton 2, Harrington, Hill, Swanson). Blocked shots--Hawaii 6 (Ostler 5, Martin), Tulsa 1 (Davis). Turnovers--Hawaii 13 (Puida 4, Savovic 4, English, Hilton, Martin, McIntyre, Ostler), Tulsa 12 (Harrington 3, Davis 2, Hill 2, Reed 2, Shelton 2, Johnson). Officials--Tom Harrington, Eddie Jackson, Steve Olson. A-8,096.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu