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Monday, March 5, 2001

WAC tourney rub:
UH draws Tubbs

TCU is the Rainbows'
opponent for first-round game
in Tulsa Thursday

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By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

TULSA, Okla. -- The University of Hawaii men's basketball team hopes to become Texas Christian's lasting memory of the Western Athletic Conference.

And the Rainbows aren't planning a fond farewell for the Horned Frogs, who leave the WAC for Conference USA next season.

Fifth-seeded UH (14-13, 8-8 WAC) and fourth-seeded TCU (20-10, 9-7) meet in a first-round game of the WAC Tournament here on Thursday (10:30 a.m. HST).

Hawaii comes off a regular-season-ending 85-77 loss at Texas El-Paso on Saturday, but the Rainbows remain optimistic about making a good run through the tournament --which it must win to advance to the NCAA Tournament with the WAC's one guaranteed berth.

Part of the reason is increased confidence after finally getting their first road win of the season, Thursday at San Jose State, 71-61.

Also, Hawaii, which has won four of its last five, knows it can play with TCU -- the Rainbows clobbered the Horned Frogs, 102-87, on Feb. 22.

"The way the league is this year, there's no preference on who we want to play,'' said UH coach Riley Wallace. "It's all the same. but I'm sure they didn't want us."

TCU comes off a regular-season ending 84-76 victory over Southern Methodist on Saturday.

SMU trailed 40-30 at halftime, but swingman Ryan Carroll scored all 17 of his points after intermission to lead TCU's comeback.

"Certainly it has to rank as one of the best halves we played, but if you want to go back to the first half, that was about as bad as we've played," TCU coach Billy Tubbs told the Fort-Worth Star Telegram. "We challenged our guys at halftime, and they stepped up and met the challenge."

While the Rainbows played well the last three weeks of the conference season, the Horned Frogs have been erratic. Part of the reason is the loss of ball-hawking guard Greedy Daniels; another is TCU's up-tempo style of play that can lead to big wins, but also big losses.

TCU whipped UH, 103-64, in Fort Worth on Jan. 4.

Now the rubber game will be played on a neutral court -- technically, that is.

Fan support from other WAC teams could swing toward UH. In addition to the factor of TCU leaving the conference, the flamboyant Tubbs doesn't go out of his way to make friends with opposing fans; he is perceived to run up scores against weaker foes by leaving starters in late in blowouts and not calling off full-court pressure after the outcome has been decided.

Wallace said he doesn't take it personally.

"That's just his style," he said earlier this season. "If you don't like it, don't schedule them. Of course, if they're in your conference, you have to play them. But the WAC won't have to worry about that next year."

On Saturday, the Rainbows had more than they could deal with in UTEP's Brandon Wolfram.

Wolfram scored 35 points and Brian Stewart added 23 as the Miners remained the only WAC team the Rainbows didn't beat this season.

Predrag Savovic, Hawaii's lone selection on the all-WAC first team, led the Rainbows with 18 points.

It was the first time UH lost a game it led at halftime this season, breaking a string of 13 wins when it was ahead at intermission.

"We just didn't do the right things in the second half," Wallace said. "And when the other team has a guy like Wolfram ...

"Wolfram was almost unstoppable. We couldn't put them away in the first half, even though we were playing better than them. He (Wolfram) kept them right there.''

UTEP turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, but Wolfram made his first eight shots. UH's Nerijus Puida helped negate him with 10 of his 15 points before intermission, and Hawaii led, 36-34.

But the Miners' Eugene Costello hit a 3-pointer to make it 43-42, UTEP, with 15:40 left in the game, and UH never regained the lead.

"We played well but our guys had key breakdowns, and we could never get over the hump," Wallace said.

Hawaii closed to 75-74 on Mike McIntyre's 3-pointer with two minutes left. But Wolfram, who was named the WAC player of the week, exploded for 10 points the rest of the way.

"If he's not the WAC Player of the Year, it's an injustice," UTEP coach Jason Rabedeaux said. "A flat injustice. He's got to be your choice."

Other WAC coaches did not feel the same way. They voted the honor to Fresno State's Melvin Ely.

Texas El-Paso 85, Hawaii 77

Rainbows (14-13, 8-8 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Martin	4	8	0	0	22	4	0	8
Puida	5	11	2	2	40	7	7	15
Ostler	4	8	1	2	29	5	0	9
Savovic	6	18	2	2	39	5	3	18
McIntyre	1	6	1	4	20	0	3	3
Shimonovich	1	2	0	0	12	2	0	2
Burneika	4	5	4	4	14	0	0	14
English	4	7	0	0	22	4	2	8
Team	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Totals	29	65	9	10	200	29	15	77

Miners (21-7, 10-6 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Smallwood	3	7	1	1	33	4	3	7
Wolfram	11	15	13	16	36	8	0	35
Stewart	8	11	7	8	30	10	3	23
Vandivort	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Costello	5	9	3	3	37	2	6	14
Neal	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0
Owens	0	3	0	0	28	2	3	0
Allen	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Jarrell	0	1	0	0	5	0	0	0
Luces	0	0	0	0	8	0	3	0
Enzweiler	2	3	0	0	14	2	0	6
Team	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Totals	29	50	24	28	200	31	18	85

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 36, Texas-El Paso 34.
3-point goals--UH 10-23 (Savovic 4-9, Puida 3-5, Burneika 2-3, McIntyre 1-4, Ostler 0-1, English 0-1); UTEP 3-8 (Enzweiler 2-3, Costello 1-2, Neal 0-1, Owens 0-2). Personal fouls--UH 20, UTEP 14. Fouled out--None. Technical fouls-None. Steals--UH 10 (Puida 3, Savovic 3, Martin, McIntyre, Burneika, English), UTEP 8 (Costello 5, Stewart 2, Smallwood). Blocked shots--UH 2 (Ostler 2), UTEP 2 (Stewart 2). Turnovers--UH 17 (Puida 3, Ostler 3, Shimonovich 3, English 3, Savovic 2, Burneika 2, Martin), UTEP 19 (Smallwood 4, Wolfram 3, Costello 3, Owens 3, Stewart 2, Enzweiler 2, Vandivort, Jarrell). Officials--Ranucci, Jacobs, Darien. A-12,222.

Final WAC standings

	Conference	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.
Fresno State	13	3	.813	24	5	.828
UTEP	10	6	.625	21	7	.750
Tulsa	10	6	.625	19	10	.655
TCU	9	7	.563	20	10	.667
SMU	8	8	.500	18	11	.621
Hawaii	8	8	.500	14	13	.519
San Jose State	6	10	.375	14	13	.519
Rice	5	11	.313	13	15	.464
Nevada	3	13	.188	10	17	.370

WAC Tournament

At Tulsa, Okla.
Tomorrow's game

Rice vs. Nevada

Thursday's quarterfinals

Fresno State vs. Rice-Nevada winner
Texas Christian vs. Hawaii, 10:30 a.m. HST
Texas-El Paso vs. Southern Methodist
Tulsa vs. San Jose State

Friday's semifinals

Fresno State-(Rice-Nevada) winner vs. Texas Christian-Hawaii winner, 2 p.m. HST
UTEP-SMU winner vs. Tulsa-San Jose State winner, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday's championship

6 p.m. HST

All-WAC teams

Player of the Year: Melvin Ely, Fresno State.
Coach of the Year: Jerry Tarkanian, Fresno State.
Freshman of the Year: Tito Maddox, Fresno State.
FIRST TEAM -- Melvin Ely, Fresno State, C, Jr., Harvey, Ill.; Brandon Wolfram, Texas-El Paso, F, Sr., Amarillo, Texas; Mike Wilks, Rice, G, Sr., Milwaukee; Chris Jefferies, Fresno State, G/F, Soph., Fresno, Calif.; Predrag Savovic, Hawaii, G/F, Jr., Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia.
SECOND TEAM -- Jeryl Sasser, SMU, G, Sr., Dallas; Kevin Johnson, Tulsa, F, Soph., Missouri City, Texas; Tito Maddox, Fresno State, G, Fr., Compton, Calif.; Damon Hancock, SMU, G, Jr., Lancaster, Texas; Eugene Costello, Texas-El Paso, G, Jr., New Orleans.
ALL-DEFENSIVE -- Melvin Ely, Fresno State, C, Jr., Harvey, Ill.; Chris Jefferies, Fresno State, G/F, Soph., Fresno, Calif.; Derrick Davenport, TCU, C, Sr., Indianapolis; Mike Wilks, Rice, G, Sr., Milwaukee; Dante Swanson, Tulsa, G, Soph., Wagoner, Okla.
ALL-NEWCOMER -- Chris Jefferies, Fresno State, G/F, Soph., Fresno, Calif.; Tito Maddox, Fresno State, g, Fr., Compton, Calif.; Eugene Costello, Texas-El Paso, G, Jr., New Orleans; Andre Hazel, Nevada, G, Fr., Garden Grove, Calif.; Phil Martin, Hawaii, F, Fr., Ontario, Canada.

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http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu