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Friday, February 16, 2001
Hawaii breaks SMU The University of Hawaii basketball team has no problem dealing with the WAC's elite -- as long as it plays them at home.
The Rainbows beat
another top WAC foe
at homeBy Dave Reardon
Star-BulletinLast night UH knocked off Southern Methodist, 79-65, at the Stan Sheriff Center, hurting the Mustangs' at-large NCAA Tournament hopes.
Earlier this year, Hawaii also beat league-leader Fresno State, and Tulsa, which is tied for second with SMU.
The Rainbows lost to all three on the road, but that was forgotten last night as UH played a sparkling first half and staved off a barrage of SMU 3-pointers after intermission.
"We ran our flex offense to perfection," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said.
Hawaii, consistently finding open cutters to the basket, shot 58.5 percent from the floor -- its second-best shooting of the season and best since Dec. 16 against Texas-Pan American.
The Rainbows also dished out a season-high 26 assists, and tied for their season low with 10 turnovers.
"We knew this could happen to us if we didn't play well defensively," Mustangs coach Mike Dement said. "And we didn't."
UH improved to 11-12 overall and passed Rice, which lost to San Jose State, into sixth place in the conference at 5-7. SMU dropped to 18-7 and 8-4 in the league.
The Rainbows host the Owls tomorrow in the second-to-last home game of the season. Rice (12-11, 4-7) won the teams' Jan. 25 meeting in Houston, 70-64.
"Rice will be very tough," Wallace said. "They're a well-coached team and they'll be very disciplined."
Predrag Savovic led Hawaii with 20 points last night. His career-high nine assists and no turnovers, as well as solid defense against SMU's Willie Davis (six points), was just as important.
"This is one of his best games," Wallace said of Savovic. "He doesn't know it, but it is."
Nerijus Puida scored 19 points, making his first six shots.
"I felt selfish tonight," said Puida, who is more known for his passing and rebounding.
"We told Nerijus he's got to score some more points," Wallace said.
Mike McIntyre and Carl English took care of point-guard duties for the injured Jeep Hilton. Hilton sprained his right ankle in practice Wednesday.
"It's a pretty easy offense to run if you listen to the coach and use your teammates," said English, who played a career-high 26 minutes.
Freshman center Haim Shimonovich made his debut after an NCAA-imposed 22-game suspension for playing in a pro league.
In 16 minutes, Shimonovich scored two points and grabbed five rebounds.
"I was happy that people appreciated things other than scoring," Shimonovich said. "The team was moving the ball great and playing great defense tonight."
SMU came back from a 42-33 halftime deficit to tie it at 56-all with 9:07 left.
But Phil Martin, who made 5-of-6 shots from the floor, scored six of his 11 points the rest of the way, and McIntyre added six of his nine.
Martin also took Jeryl Sasser out of his offensive game, limiting one of the WAC's most talented players to 6-of-18 shooting.
Shimonovich hit a layup that made it 70-65, Hawaii, with 1:55 left. McIntyre had an open layup, but passed to Shimonovich instead.
"I wanted to see him score," McIntyre said with a smile. "Plus I wanted an assist."
Damon Hancock led SMU with 18 points.
Hawaii 79, Southern Methodist 65
Mustangs (18-7, 8-4 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Hancock 6 15 4 4 29 2 5 18 Sasser 6 18 1 2 38 5 4 14 Ross 6 10 0 0 35 2 2 17 Kelley 1 4 0 0 27 5 0 2 Davis 2 5 2 4 34 6 2 6 Atkins 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 Lowe 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Floyd 3 8 0 3 20 4 0 8 Forinash 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 Niemi 0 3 0 0 7 2 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 24 64 7 13 200 31 13 65
Rainbows (11-12, 5-7 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 7 15 4 4 36 3 9 20 Martin 5 6 1 2 31 6 0 11 McIntyre 2 2 3 4 15 0 6 9 Puida 9 11 0 0 40 4 3 19 Ostler 4 11 2 4 27 8 3 10 Takaki 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Shimonovich 1 2 0 0 16 5 1 2 Burneika 1 1 0 0 7 2 0 3 English 1 4 0 0 26 4 3 3 Holliday 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 O’Connor 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 31 53 11 15 200 34 26 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-Hawaii 42, Southern Methodist 33.
3-point goals--SMU 10-23 (Ross 5-9, Hancock 2-3, Floyd 2-4, Sasser 1-5); UH 6-14 (McIntyre 2-2, Savovic 2-7, English 1-2, Puida 1-3).
Personal fouls--SMU 15, UH 14. Fouled out--None. Technical fouls-None. Steals--SMU 5 (Davis 3, Hancock, Sasser), UH 3 (Martin 2, Burneika). Blocked shots--SMU 1 (Davis), UH 4 (Ostler 3, Shimonovich).
Turnovers--SMU 8 (Ross 4, Sasser 2, Hancock, Davis), UH 10 (Puida 3, Shimonovich 2, English 2, Martin, McIntyre, Ostler). Officials--Zetcher, Maracich, Reed.
A-5,988 (tickets distributed), 3,783 (turnstile).
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii