Friday, February 22, 2002
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’Bows nudge Hurricane Not since the 1998 NIT quarterfinal against Fresno State had it been this important.
Campbell misses on his late drive,
but hits a free throw to give Hawaii
a 1-point victory over TulsaBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comNot since the 1997 Rainbow Classic title game against Kansas had it been this loud.
Never had first place been on the line.
In one of the biggest games in the program's history, Hawaii reclaimed the lead in the Western Athletic Conference with a heart-stopping 86-85 win over Tulsa. Junior Mark Campbell hit one of two free throws with 2.9 seconds left and the Rainbows' prevent defense thwarted the Golden Hurricane's last-gasp shot at the buzzer to preserve the victory.
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A capacity crowd of 9,669 (10,268 tickets) saw Hawaii (22-4, 13-2) defeat Tulsa (22-5, 13-3) for the third consecutive time. Carl English scored a career-high 28 points and Predrag Savovic added 27 to lead the Rainbows to their 11th straight win at home, and 15th WAC game in a row, dating back to last season."I hope that all 10,000 people enjoyed themselves tonight because we did," said Savovic, who hit all 4 of his 3-pointers in the second half. "We responded when we had to. Tulsa is a great team.
"The crowd was great. I wish it had been like that all season and I hope it will be like this against Rice."
Hawaii can keep its lead over Tulsa with a win over Rice tomorrow night. It is Senior Night for three Rainbows: Mike McIntyre, Mindaugas Burneika and Savovic.
"It was a great team effort tonight," said English, whose previous career high of 25 came against Tulsa in the WAC Tournament title game. "As I've said all season, any time we're clicking on all cylinders, we're tough to beat.
"It's amazing that we could be down by almost 10 (80-73) with five minutes to go and we still pull it out."
It wasn't easy. The Rainbows went more than four minutes without a field goal in seeing a six-point lead turn into a seven-point deficit. The Golden Hurricane went on a 14-1 run, taking their first lead since late in the first half.
Hawaii countered with a 10-2 spurt, with Burneika, English and Savovic hitting 3-pointers. Savovic's 3-pointer with 1:17 left put the Rainbows back on top 83-82.
Kevin Johnson and English traded baskets, with Johnson hitting 1 of 2 free throws with 12.6 seconds remaining to tie it at 85-85.
The next play was designed for Campbell to drive the lane, then pass it to either English or Savovic on the wing. It was the same play Hawaii ran, but failed to complete, in losing to Colorado State in Hilo in November 61-59.
"You have a split second to decide and the defense followed our guys out," said Campbell. "I was supposed to pass, but then it was, 'Screw it, I'll go for it.' "
Campbell was fouled on the only shot he attempted by Johnson. Tulsa tried to ice him out, calling a timeout before Campbell went to the line, and a second after the junior guard made the free throw.
Campbell missed the second attempt, but Hawaii's defense was camped out at midcourt. The 6-foot-10 Haim Shimonovich stepped in front of 6-2 Greg Harrington near midcourt; Harrington lost his dribble for a second then launched a desperation shot over Shimonovich that fell short.
Shimonovich had just eight points, but finished with a career-high 14 rebounds and added five rebounds. Also in double figures for Hawaii was Burneika with 11.
Hawaii's defense held Tulsa's Dante Swanson to just eight points. Swanson, the leading 3-point shooter in the country, had just three 3-point attempts, hitting two.
Antonio Reed led the Golden Hurricane with 24 points. Marqus Ledoux hit every shot he took, 6 of 6 from the field and 2 of 2 from the line for 15 points.
"We played good defense all game but they have a lot of big bodies," said Reed. "They won most of the hustle plays. They're a great ballclub with a great coach. Any time we play, it's going to be a battle."
Hawaii hit 12 3-pointers, marking the 13th time in 13 wins that the Rainbows hit at least seven 3-pointers. Hawaii also won the battle at the free-throw line, sinking 20 of 27 to Tulsa's 10 of 14.
English had 12 points and Savovic 11 as the Rainbows inched out to a 41-38 halftime lead. Seven of Savovic's points came from the free-throw line, which proved the difference in the opening 20 minutes as Hawaii was 11 of 12 from the line and Tulsa 4 of 7.
On most nights, 50 percent shooting from the floor will put a team ahead. That's what the Golden Hurricane shot (16 of 32) compared to the Rainbows' 45 percent (13 of 29).
But Hawaii's in-your-face defense continued to bother the best 3-point shooting team in the WAC. The Golden Hurricane hit just 2 of 7 from long range, and Swanson, the country's leading 3-pointer shooter, was 1-for-2.
Helping the Rainbows gain the first-half edge in the seesaw contest was a 17-15 edge in rebounds. Hawaii finished with a 32-28 margin, only the fourth time Tulsa had been outrebounded this season.
Johnson, the reigning WAC Player of the Week, had 8 of his 13 points in the first half to keep Tulsa close. He scored six of his team's final eight points before half, including a monster putback with 3:11 left to put the Golden Hurricane ahead 34-33.
It was Tulsa's last lead until a 3-point play by Ledoux put his team up 73-72 with 6:45 left. Then the fireworks began.
WAC men's standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Hawaii 13 2 .867 -- 22 4 .846 Tulsa 13 3 .813 1/2 22 5 .815 La. Tech 11 4 .733 2 17 8 .680 Nevada 8 7 .533 5 15 10 .600 SMU 9 6 .600 4 14 11 .560 Fresno St. 7 8 .467 6 16 12 .571 Boise St. 4 11 .267 9 10 15 .400 Rice 5 11 .313 8 1/2 10 16 .385 San Jose St. 3 12 .200 10 8 19 296 UTEP 3 12 .200 10 10 18 .556 Yesterday
Louisiana Tech 66, Fresno St. 63
SMU 77, Nevada 74
Rice 62, San Jose St. 46
Hawaii 86, Tulsa 85Tomorrow
Rice at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
UTEP at Boise State
Fresno State at SMU
Nevada at Louisiana Tech
Tulsa at San Jose State
Hawaii 86, Tulsa 85
GOLDEN HURRICANE (22-5, 13-3 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Swanson 3 3 0 0 18 0 0 8 Reed 8 14 4 4 32 2 4 24 Harrington 3 6 0 0 31 2 3 7 Davis 0 1 2 4 18 3 2 2 Johnson 6 13 1 3 29 9 0 13 Glenn 4 7 1 1 23 4 4 9 Parker 1 3 0 0 15 3 2 2 Ledoux 6 6 2 2 22 1 2 15 Ingram 2 4 0 0 12 3 1 5 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 33 57 10 14 200 28 18 86 RAINBOWS (22-4, 13-2 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 7 15 9 11 35 2 3 27 Martin 2 10 0 0 30 4 3 4 Shimonovich 2 6 4 4 32 14 5 8 Campbell 0 0 3 4 29 1 3 3 English 11 16 1 4 35 8 3 28 McIntyre 2 3 0 0 20 1 1 5 Burneika 3 7 3 4 19 2 0 11 Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 27 57 20 27 200 32 18 86 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 40, Tulsa 37.
3-point goals -- Tulsa 9-16 (Reed 4-5, Swanson 2-3, Harrington 1-3, Ledoux 1-1, Ingram 1-1, Johnson 0-2, Parker 0-1); Hawaii 12-24 (Savovic 4-12, McIntyre 1-2, Burneika 2-2, English 5-7, Shimonovich 0-1). Personal fouls -- Tulsa 21, Hawaii 15. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Tulsa 6 (Swanson 2, Reed 2, Johnson, Parker); Hawaii 6 (English, Shimonovich, Martin, McIntyre 3). Blocked shots -- Tulsa 2 (Davis, Johnson); Hawaii 2 (Shimonovich, Martin). Turnovers -- Tulsa 9 (Davis 5, Swanson, Reed, Johnson, Glenn); Hawaii 9 (English 5, Shimonovich, Savovic, Campbell, Martin). Officials -- Zetcher, Walker, Wells. A -- 9,669.
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