About 100 of the full house at the Stan Sheriff Center hung around as long as they could to savor Hawaii's thrilling 86-85 victory over Tulsa last night. UH-Tulsa rivalry growing
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comAs the Golden Hurricane's Antonio Reed walked off the court after a radio interview, many of the remaining UH fans gave him a heartfelt round of applause.
Quite appropriate, since that's what Tulsa fans did last March at their place after the Rainbows outlasted the Hurricane in overtime for the Western Athletic Conference championship.
The burgeoning Hawaii-Tulsa rivalry seems to be one of mutual respect. Reed, who led TU with 24 points, agreed. Don't let the fact that the starters didn't exchange pregame handshakes with the opponents fool you. This is not Hawaii-Fresno State or Hawaii-Brigham Young.
"We know these guys," he said. "When we play them it's like going to the park and playing with your friends. It seems like we always have great games with them, and they have great fans.
"It was fun. I think we're the two best teams in the WAC. Any time we play it's unlikely one will blow out the other because both teams have a lot of heart," Reed added.
The game was eerily similar to a year ago, when Hawaii and Tulsa met for the WAC title.
"It really was," said UH center Haim Shimonovich. "Both teams had a high energy level all through the game and didn't give up.
"We have a lot of respect for them, but like last year and this year at their place we're happy we beat them."
Same intensity from start to finish. Same leading scorers (Carl English with 28 for Hawaii, whose previous high of 25 was scored in the WAC title game last year, and Reed led TU with 19). And, once again, it came down to the last play.
In the WAC championship, it was English's off-balance 8-foot banker that sent UH into overtime en route to beating the Golden Hurricane and eventually earning a trip to the NCAAs. Last night Mark Campbell's free throw with two seconds left gave the Rainbows' their third victory in a row over Tulsa.
"The clock was winding down so I just put the pedal to the metal and went for it," Campbell said of his only field-goal attempt.
Mark of a great game: The first half, which ended with Hawaii leading 41-38, featured 22 ties and lead changes and strong halfcourt offense by both teams. Six of the seven second-half ties and lead changes came in the last 1:15.
Glass man: Shimonovich finished with eight points, but he did grab a career-high 14 rebounds. UH won the battle of the boards 32-28.
Shimonovich also had a team-high five assists and made all four of his free throws.
Count it again: It's a good thing whoever is adding up the Stan Sheriff Center attendance figures has nothing to do with the scoreboard.
According to numbers distributed at courtside, 10,268 tickets were distributed for last night's sellout, and 9,669 people went through the turnstiles. That means there should have been at least 500 empty seats. There were less than 50.
Got his: Former Hawaii forward Nerijus Puida wore a white shirt to last night's game, as requested by UH. But Puida's was different than most of the crowd's: It was a WAC championship T-shirt he earned as a member of last year's team.
"I got mine. Now they have to fight for theirs," Puida said.