Saturday, December 22, 2001
[ UH BASKETBALL ]
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UH outmuscles Iona, In Sports Illustrated's college basketball preview issue, three of the Rainbow Classic's entries made the "Rest of the Best," ranking Nos. 21-65: No. 32 Boston College, No. 51 Iona and No. 64 Holy Cross.
moves into Classic final
Hawaii will try for its seventh
tournament title against GeorgiaBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comNone of them are in tonight's 38th championship game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Host Hawaii (8-2), barely a blip on the national radar screen, is in the final for the third straight year. The Rainbows are back seeking their seventh title, thanks to a 67-56 victory last night over Iona in front of 4,638 fans (6,515 tickets).
Also advancing to the 7:30 p.m. final is Georgia (10-1). The Bulldogs, on the verge of a Top 25-ranking, held off Miami (Ohio) 64-59 in last night's first championship semifinal.
Dropping into the 5 p.m. third-place game are the Gaels (3-7) and RedHawks (3-6).
The 1:30 p.m. fifth-place game has No. 10 Boston College (10-1) taking on Holy Cross (5-5) for the second time in six days. The Eagles won last Sunday's meeting over the visiting Crusaders 75-51.
Yesterday, BC rebounded from its first loss of the season with a hard-fought 76-70 win over Arkansas State (7-5). The Indians will take on Portland (4-6) for seventh at 11:30 a.m. The Pilots fell to Holy Cross, 60-43.
"We'll be ready," said sophomore guard Carl English. "We let one championship get away in Hilo and we want this one.
"We should be able to match up with them. The main thing is we play together."
The Rainbows avoided their third loss with an inspired second half against the Gaels. Hawaii got a huge lift from 5-foot-4 junior guard Lance Takaki, who hit a baseline jumper with 20 seconds left in the half to give his team a 28-23 lead.
It was Takaki's first shot and points of the year. He then took an elbow to the head on the ensuing play, and left when the gash started to bleed.
"He's the hero of the locker room," said Hawaii coach Riley Wallace. "He went in there, not as a token, but to play. He wasn't intimidated. He made the shot, then he got his head split open."
"I think it showed that we are a team," added English. "The little guy got open and I got him the ball because he had the better shot."
It typified the physical play of the game, which saw 24 personal fouls whistled in the first 20 minutes. The teams would combine for 48, with two Iona players fouling out. Hawaii had a slim edge at the line in the first half, hitting 9 of 14 free-throw attempts while Iona was 8 of 12. The Rainbows finished a dismal 60 percent for the game (23 of 38), the Gaels 62 percent (10 of 16).
Hawaii began to pull away after intermission. Predrag Savovic scored nine points, including two 3-pointers, and Haim Shimonovich added seven to help give the Rainbows their biggest lead at 50-43.
The Gaels would not go away despite the foul trouble that had one player on the bench with five and two starters playing with four with seven minutes to go.
Iona stayed close, helped by Hawaii's poor free-throw shooting. The Rainbows hit just 3 of 8 during a four-minute stretch as they clung to a 53-48 lead.
The Gaels went scoreless for nearly five minutes, thanks to some tough Rainbow defense. Shimonovich hit a jumper and Mike McIntyre's second 3-pointer gave Hawaii its biggest lead of the half at 58-48 with 2:36 to go.
Iona pulled to within seven, but could get no closer. Carl English iced the game with four free throws, finishing with a game-high 17 points.
Shimonovich tied his career high with 16 and Savovic, on the bench for most of the second half, had 11.
Charles Henson was the only Iona player in double figures with 12.
Iona's leading scorer Dyree Wilson (12.3 average) didn't hit a shot until early in the second half. He finished with two points.
"I've told the guys that Georgia is not any better than Tennessee," Wallace said, referring to the Volunteer team that beat Hawaii for the Classic title last year 69-58. "Our club is better at this point of the year than last year's team.
"We've got to be prepared to play 40 minutes. Georgia could be ranked next week and it would be a big win for us right before we take on Fresno State."
Georgia 64, Miami (Ohio) 59: The Bulldogs brought the RedHawks back to Earth, thanks to a soaring performance by junior guard Ezra Williams.
The 6-foot-4 Williams hit five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 17 points as Georgia won its fifth straight.
"I just caught a rhythm," said Williams, the team's leading 3-point shooter. "I hit the 3s and then we hit from the free-throw line.
"Getting to the championship is why we're here. We didn't come just to have fun."
Georgia won the game in the first half, winning the battle on the boards and the scoreboard. The Bulldogs took a 30-19 lead and a 23-13 rebound margin into the locker room.
Miami went more than six minutes without a field goal. Alex Shorts hit a jumper with four minutes left in the first half; the next basket by the RedHawks would come on Shorts' jumper some two minutes into the second half.
Shorts, Miami's leading scorer, was on the bench with 12 points and four fouls when the RedHawks rallied midway through the second half. Juby Johnson scored 11 consecutive points, hitting three straight 3-pointers and two free throws, to cut Georgia's 18-point lead to 50-39. The Bulldogs went up by 14, 58-44, only to have the RedHawks score eight unanswered points to close the gap to 58-52.
Miami pulled to within 62-59 with 26 seconds left, but the RedHawks were out of timeouts and ran out of time. Although Georgia didn't hit a field goal in the final six minutes, the Bulldogs canned eight consecutive free throws to hold on for the win.
Boston College 76, Arkansas State 70: The 10th-ranked Eagles survived an upset bid by the Indians, who not only lost a game but a key player.
ASU senior guard Nick Rivers had his right leg broken when BC's Brian Ross fell on him with 4:17 left in the first half. Rivers will be out for another six weeks.
The Indians had just lost the lead when Rivers was carried off the court. They never got it back, although ASU did close to 61-60 on Tony Brown's layup off a fast break with 5:04 to go.
The Eagles countered with a fast-break basket by Troy Bell, who finished with a game-high 20 points. BC then held off an inspired Jason Jennings; the 7-foot ASU center scored seven of his team-high 19 points in the final 2:37.
Kenny Walls added 18 for the Eagles, scoring 10 in the first half as BC took a 37-30 lead. Jermaine Watson had 11 for BC.
For ASU, Kolin Weaver added 16 points and Terrance Saulsberry 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Bell made only 2 of 10 shots before intermission. Jet lag, final exams and the first loss of the season may have all caught up with him and some of the other Eagles.
"I think a lot of the guys were emotionally worn out from the first game," Bell said of Thursday's 73-67 loss to Miami (Ohio). "I was very tired. I needed a couple minutes just to rest and figure out what I needed to do."
Holy Cross 60, Portland 43: Ryan Serravalle scored 14 points, 10 from the free-throw line, and the Crusaders took control early in topping the Pilots.
Except for an early 2-2 tie, Holy Cross led the entire way. The Crusaders led by as many as 14, settling for a 27-17 advantage at halftime.
Portland opened the second half with a 10-5 run to cut it to 32-27 on Casey Frandsen's 3-pointer with 14:19 remaining. But Holy Cross countered with a 9-0 run, helped by steals by Serravalle and Michael Smiley, and the Pilots never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
Hawaii 67, Iona 56
GAELS (3-7)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Fields 2 6 0 1 18 7 1 4 Wilson 1 5 0 1 34 5 1 2 Norris 3 10 1 1 21 4 1 8 Brown 2 6 0 0 26 2 4 6 Jenkins 4 6 1 1 25 4 0 9 Starks 1 5 3 3 16 4 4 6 Wofford 0 4 3 4 23 1 2 3 Henson 6 14 0 1 23 8 0 12 Williams 0 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0 Carruthers 2 3 2 4 14 4 0 6 Totals 21 59 10 16 200 41 13 56 RAINBOWS (8-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 4 10 1 2 20 2 0 11 Martin 3 5 1 2 24 7 1 7 Shimonovich 4 7 8 13 35 6 2 16 Campbell 0 1 1 2 34 4 1 1 English 4 12 9 12 38 8 7 17 McIntyre 2 7 0 0 27 2 1 6 Takaki 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 Burneika 1 3 2 4 10 1 0 4 Holliday 0 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0 Jesinskis 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 Vebobe 1 2 1 2 9 1 1 3 Totals 20 49 23 38 200 36 13 67 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 28, Iona 23
3-point goals--Iona 4-16 (Brown 2-4, Norris 1-5, Starks 1-3, Wofford 0-2, Fields 0-2), Hawaii 4-14 (Savovic 2-5, McIntyre 2-6, English 0-2, Jesinskis 0-1). Personal fouls--Iona 30, Hawaii 18. Steals--Iona 2, Hawaii 4. Blocked shots--Iona 5, Hawaii 5. Turnovers--Iona 19, Hawaii 14. A--6,515.
UH Athletics
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