Sunday, January 6, 2002
[ UH BASKETBALL ]
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’Bows go to BOISE, Idaho >> Hawaii's basketball team got lost going to dinner Friday night, nearly ending up in Oregon.
4-0 in WAC
At 13-2, Hawaii is off to its best
start of the Riley Wallace eraStar-Bulletin Staff
Predrag Savovic lost his wallet yesterday morning at breakfast. The senior guard found it later, just like he helped the Rainbows find a way to win on the road for the second straight game.
In another nail-biter, Savovic hit two game-clinching free throws with 10.1 seconds left to give Hawaii a 64-62 victory over Boise State at the BSU Pavilion. It was the Rainbows' second straight two-point win as they improved to 13-2 overall, 4-0 in the Western Athletic Conference; the Broncos slipped to 7-7, 1-3.
It is the best overall start for coach Riley Wallace in his 15 seasons at Manoa -- breaking a tie with the 1997-98 team that opened 12-2 -- and could be enough to push Hawaii into the national polls tomorrow. This was only the sixth time in the program's history that it swept a road trip, and the first time since 1997-98.
"It was a very hard game," said Savovic, who finished with a team-high 21 points. "It feels good to win, but we're pretty tired. It's been a long road trip.
"We can't celebrate, just get ready for the next two games. Those are big."
Hawaii hosts Louisiana Tech (8-4, 2-1) on Thursday. The Rainbows, with a half-game lead over SMU (8-5, 3-0), see the Mustangs on Saturday.
"Any win is terrific and you have to give Boise State credit for playing us so tough," said Wallace. "We could not get into our offense in the last 10 minutes. That's as good a defense as we've seen this year.
"Overall, it was a great team effort. To win two in two tough places is big."
No one played bigger than Savovic, whom Wallace called "the craziest smart man I've ever coached."
Savovic denied that he called "bank" on the 3-pointer that put Hawaii ahead 60-57 with 1:54 to go. But the Yugoslavian national said in his mind he called "good" as he popped from the top of the key, banking it off the backboard.
"It had to go in," Savovic said of his third 3-pointer of the night. "We needed it to go in."
It was the same thought process he went through when standing at the free-throw line with 10.4 seconds remaining.
"Just put them in is what I think at times like that," he said, hitting both free throws to put Hawaii up 64-61.
The Broncos didn't get a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer. Hawaii's Carl English fouled out while going for a steal, putting BSU's leading scorer, Abe Jackson, who scored a game-high 27, on the line with 1.1 seconds to go. The senior all-American candidate was 10 of 11 in his previous trips to the line; he hit the first one, then intentionally missed the second, hoping his team could get a putback.
Instead, Phil Martin grabbed his third rebound as the final horn sounded.
"That was a big rebound," said junior point guard Mark Campbell. "We knew that we needed to get that one and just hold on.
"This was so big for us, to be 4-0 with two wins on the road. You can't ask for more."
Campbell said he drew inspiration from the 33 relatives and friends who were in the Pavilion crowd of 6,806 last night. They had made the trip from neighboring states Washington and Oregon, and wore green shirts that read "Campbell Crew 2002."
"It was a really important game for me personally," said Campbell, who had a great defensive game to go with two points and five assists.
Campbell so frustrated C.J. Williams in the first half that the Broncos' junior guard hit Campbell on the back of the neck, drawing an intentional foul.
"I guess he got irritated," Campbell said of Williams. "My head was ringing pretty good, but that's no excuse for me missing those free throws."
Campbell missed the two chances with 5:06 left before halftime. Overall, Hawaii went 9-for-16 from the line in continuing to struggle.
"We didn't hit them again tonight, but we hit the ones at crucial times," said Wallace.
"This is a special team, they're special to work with and they should be special to the fans. If we can't get a sellout this year, it will be a shame. These guys deserve it."
WAC
Fresno State 86, Tulsa 85: At Fresno, Melvin Ely scored 33 points and had 16 rebounds, both career highs, to lead the Bulldogs (11-5, 3-1) past the Golden Hurricane (10-3, 1-1).Chris Jefferies converted a 3-point play with 10 seconds left in the game to seal the victory. Jefferies finished with 20 points in the game.
Greg Harrington led Tulsa with 25 points.
Nevada 91, Rice 70: At Reno, Nev., Kirk Snyder scored 20 points and Terrance Green scored 18 to lead Nevada (9-5, 2-2) over Rice (5-7, 0-2).
Leading 57-47 with 10 minutes left, Nevada went on a 10-0 run to put the game away. The run was capped by four consecutive technical foul shots by Jerry Petty after Rice coach Willis Wilson was slapped with two technicals and ejected from the game with 8:06 left.
Texas-El Paso 66, San Jose State 65: At El Paso, Texas, Roy Smallwood tipped in a shot with 0.1 seconds left, giving Texas-El Paso (6-9, 1-3) a victory over San Jose State (5-11, 0-4) and snapping a four-game losing streak.
The Spartans missed 10 free throws, while UTEP was 19-for-22 from the line.
SMU 74, Louisiana Tech 71: At Ruston, La., Quinton Ross hit a 3-point goal as time expired to lift the Mustangs (8-5, 3-0) over the Bulldogs (8-4, 2-1) in a battle of conference unbeatens.
Ross' game-winning shot came just 17 seconds after a 3-point goal by Gerrod Henderson moved Tech into a 71-all tie.
Broncos (7-7, 1-3) HAWAII 64, BOISE STATE 62
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Jackson 6 15 11 13 35 7 1 27 Ellis 1 1 1 2 27 9 0 3 Morgan 3 6 0 2 30 3 2 6 Williams 1 3 0 0 21 1 2 2 Nabors 4 9 0 0 29 4 2 9 Dafares 5 8 3 6 31 2 1 13 Wyatt 1 1 0 1 7 0 0 2 Gerichs 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Tillman 1 4 0 0 18 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 21 47 15 24 200 27 8 62 Rainbows (13-2, 4-0)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 2 6 0 2 21 3 1 4 English 4 7 2 2 28 3 1 11 Shimonovich 4 5 0 0 37 5 3 8 Savovic 7 18 5 6 40 8 4 22 Campbell 1 2 0 2 36 1 5 2 McIntyre 2 4 0 0 16 0 1 6 Burneika 4 5 2 4 21 3 0 11 Jesinskis 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 24 47 9 16 200 25 15 64 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-Boise St. 30, Hawaii 37.
3-point goals--Boise St. 5-14 (Jackson 4-8, Nabors 1-2,Morgan 0-2); Hawaii 8-21 (Savovic 3-10, McIntyre 2-4, Burneika 1-2, English 1-1, Campbell 0-1). Personal fouls--Boise St. 18, Hawaii 21. Technical fouls--none. Steals--Boise St. 3 (Ellis, Defares, Tillman); Hawaii 4 (Savovic 2, Campbell 2). Blocked shots--Boise St. 1 (Morgan); Hawaii 4 (Shimonovich, Savovic, Martin, Burneika). Turnovers--Boise St. 14 (Tillman 3, Williams 3, Jackson 2, Morgan 2, Ellis, Defares, Wyatt, Team); Hawaii 13 (Campbell 3, Savovic 3, Martin 2, English 2, Burneika 2, McIntyre). Officials--Christman, Cota, Hernandez. A--6,806.
WAC STANDINGS
Conference All games Team W L % GB W L Hawaii 4 0 1.000 -- 13 2 SMU 3 0 1.000 12 8 5 Fresno 3 1 .750 1 11 5 La. Tech 2 1 .667 112 6 4 Tulsa 1 1 .500 2 10 3 Nevada 2 2 .500 2 9 5 Boise St. 1 3 .250 3 7 7 UTEP 1 3 .250 3 6 9 Rice 0 2 .000 3 5 7 San Jose 0 4 .000 4 5 11 Last night
Hawaii 64, Boise State 62
SMU 74, Louisiana Tech 71
Fresno State 86, Tulsa 85
Nevada 91, Rice 70
UTEP 66, San Jose State 65Thursday
Louisiana Tech at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
Boise State at Rice
SMU at San Jose State
UTEP at Tulsa
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii