Saturday, November 24, 2001
[ DIVISION II SPORTS ]
The Hawaii Pacific basketball team is not used to playing against a power forward like Notre Dame's Ryan Humphrey. Unfortunately for the Sea Warriors last night, they were also the first team to have to deal with him this season. Notre Dame overwhelms HPU
By Brandon Lee
blee@starbulletin.comAfter being ruled ineligible for the Fighting Irish's first two games due to an NCAA secondary violation, Humphrey came out firing like a man possessed, leading Notre Dame to a 98-58 victory over HPU at Blaisdell Arena. The 6-foot-8, 235-pound senior tri-captain had 26 of his game-high 31 points at halftime, and finished with 10 rebounds and three blocks.
The contest between the Sea Warriors (1-1) and Irish (3-0) was the finale of the first day of action in HPU's Thanksgiving Classic tournament, which runs through tomorrow. HPU is the lone Division II participant, with the rest of the eight-team field Division I programs.
"The word we got was that he was an NBA (caliber) player," said HPU coach Tony Sellitto of Humphrey. "After seeing him, he looks like a late first-rounder or early second (round draft pick).
"He had a great game. We don't have anybody who could stop him; not many teams do."
Notre Dame meets Tennessee-Chattanooga tonight at 6:30 for the right to play in tomorrow's championship game, while HPU plays Liberty in the consolation bracket at 4:30. Tennessee-Chattanooga cruised by Liberty 82-57.
David Graves (17 points) and Matt Carroll (15) joined Humphrey in double figures for the Fighting Irish, while freshman phenom Chris Thomas, who posted the only triple-double in school history in his first game, dished out a game-high 13 assists. Thomas failed to score more than 20 points (3) for the first time in Notre Dame's three games, but he didn't have to because of Humphrey.
"I felt like I was gonna go out and bring it," Humphrey said. "I wanted to have fun and help the team win. It was tough (sitting out), but I knew I'd make it through."
Nash Subotic was the only Sea Warrior to score in double figures with 17. Zack Anderson nearly joined him, with nine points and 10 rebounds.
As a team, Notre Dame outshot HPU 55 percent (38-for-69) to 34 percent (23-for-67), and outrebounded the Sea Warriors by 12 (49-37).
Humphrey scored 11 of the Fighting Irish's first 14 points to start the game from close range, while HPU struggled, hitting only two of eight shots in the opening five minutes. Yet the Sea Warriors battled back in keeping it close and actually had the lead for short stretches near the midpoint of the half, but Notre Dame began to pull away for good at the 7:40 mark.
Humphrey's long 3-pointer from well beyond the top of the arc as time expired, made the score 46-30 at the break and showed that last night belonged to him and the Fighting Irish.
"I slept great last night," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "With Humphrey playing for the first time and (Harold) Swanagan fully recovered from injury, we needed to be whole again. Of course (Humphrey) had a lot of pent-up energy."
Notre Dame built its lead and put the game far out of reach in the second half. The final score was the biggest deficit of the night for HPU.
In other first-round action yesterday, Monmouth defeated Akron 64-61, and Vanderbilt downed Hampton 100-85. Monmouth and Vanderbilt meet for a berth in the championship game at 2 p.m. today, while Akron and Hampton face off at noon in consolation action.
Tennessee-Chattanooga 82, Liberty 57: Petie Spaulding had 24 points to lead Tennessee-Chattanooga over Liberty.
Spaulding hit all four of his free throws as the Mocs (2-0) went 20-for-27 from the line. The Flames (0-2) made seven of their 18 free throws. Spaulding also made four 3-pointers, as did teammate Toot Young.
Monmouth 64, Akron 61: Rahsaan Johnson scored 19 points and added eight assists to lead Monmouth.
The Hawks (2-0) got off to a quick 9-0 start, taking a lead they wouldn't give up. Monmouth's largest lead of 15 points came on Johnson's two free throws with 7:38 left in the game.
Emmanuel Smith hit three 3-pointers in the final four minutes to bring the Zips (1-1) within six with 1:47 to go, and Andy Hipsher's 3-pointer drew Akron within three with two seconds left .
But the Hawks, who had a 32-23 lead at the half, managed to hang on for the victory.
Vanderbilt 100, Hampton 85: David Przybyszewski had 23 points and eight rebounds to lead Vanderbilt to a victory over Hampton.
Przybyszewski, a 6-11 freshman from Poland, shot 10 of 11 from the field including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
Matt Freije added 20 points while Sam Howard added 15 and Chuck Moore had 14 for the Commodores (2-1).
Devin Green and Barry Hairston each scored 15 to lead Hampton (2-1).
Hawaii Pacific
BYU-Hawaii
Chaminade
U.H. Hilo