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Savo lights TULSA, Okla. >> Even Jerry Tarkanian was impressed.
up Nevada
The senior guard erupts for 29 points
in the first half against the Wolf Pack
Hawaii goes for a second straight WAC
championship today against host TulsaBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe Fresno State coach came by to check with his scouts during halftime of last night's Western Athletic Conference tournament semifinal between Hawaii and Nevada at the Reynolds Center, which the Rainbows went on to win 90-68.
"Can you believe this?" Tarkanian asked. "English and McIntyre don't score and they're up like this."
Hawaii was leading 48-32 at halftime when Tarkanian arrived. The two guards who had led the Rainbows to an 82-79 victory over the Bulldogs last Saturday -- Carl English with 33 points and Mike McIntyre with 27 -- had gone scoreless in the first 20 minutes.
What the legendary coach missed was an arena-record show by senior guard Predrag Savovic, who showed the Wolf Pack his aching back was better. Savovic scored 31 points, including 29 in the first half, to lead Hawaii past Nevada.
The Rainbows, winning a school-record 26th, are seeking to become just the fourth team in 19 years to repeat as conference tournament champs. Today (4 p.m. Hawaii time), top-seeded Hawaii (26-5) will face second-seeded Tulsa (26-5) in the championship game.
The Golden Hurricane rolled over Fresno State 81-65 in last night's second semifinal. The victory sets up a rematch of last year's title game, won by Hawaii in overtime.
"We're looking forward to seeing Hawaii, one of the great teams in the country," said Tulsa coach John Phillips. "The word 'revenge' doesn't come to mind. It's a mutual respect between the teams."
The Rainbows have defeated two of the three teams that handed them losses during the WAC regular season. On Feb. 28, Nevada took advantage of Savovic going down with a back spasm early in the second half to deal Hawaii its worst loss of the year 79-69.
"I imagine they're pretty upset at us," Nevada coach Trent Johnson said prior to last night's game.
That proved to be an understatement. Savovic was particularly fired up; he had a season-low five points, snapping a streak of 21 straight double-figure scoring games, last week in Reno.
"I wanted to play hard," said Savovic, who broke the arena record of 30 held by three players. "I got hurt against them and we lost. We had a chance to come out and beat them. It was a great win and great to get to the finals again.
"Yes, I had their number tonight."
Savovic's numbers were eye-popping in the first 20 minutes. He was 9 of 12 from the field, 6 of 8 from the 3-point line, and 5-for-5 at the charity stripe. Things were going so well that he nearly hit a shot from behind the midcourt line as the half ended.
"Savo was red-hot, just like Carl was at Fresno when he had 27 in the first half," said Hawaii coach Riley Wallace. "Savo was in a zone. The problem is sometimes he doesn't know when he's out of that zone."
The only thing that stopped Savovic was Wallace, who pulled him with 10 minutes left in the game and the Rainbows leading 59-44. Hawaii was up by as many as 23 (59-36) before Kirk Snyder scored six consecutive points and Corey Jackson hit a basket to pull Nevada within 15.
"We thought about putting Savo back in, but with that lead, there was no sense in risking another injury," said Wallace.
Instead, Hawaii relied on a team effort and tough free-throw shooting. The Rainbows sank six consecutive free throws to keep the Wolf Pack at bay.
It was 67-50 when McIntyre took over, just as he did at Fresno State in the second half. He hit two 3-pointers and added another jumper in an 8-2 run to push it to 75-52. Nevada never got closer than 19, with McIntyre hitting two more 3-pointers to finish with 18 points.
Phil Martin, Hawaii's MVP on defense, added 10 points. For Nevada, Terrance Green scored 16 and Garry Hill-Thomas added 12.
The Wolf Pack, averaging a WAC-best 22 made free throws a game, went to the line 20 times, hitting 15. Hawaii was 22 of 28 from the line.
The Rainbows hit 12 3-pointers, two off the school record. Savovic had six, tying his career high, and McIntyre added four.
English finished with seven second-half points, sitting out most of the first half after picking up two fouls in the first three minutes.
"Tonight was all about defense," said Martin, who had a team-high six rebounds. "Against them last week, we were real sluggish.
"I don't know if this gets us in (the NCAA Tournament). We'll be waiting for them to give us the go-ahead on Sunday."
"I won't feel secure until Sunday," said Wallace.
As for today's game, "We beat them twice and, at our place, it was a matter of who had the ball last," Wallace said of the 86-85 win on Feb. 21. "You can't play a better team than Tulsa, and that's a capital 'T.'"
Notes: The 1989-90 team that won 25 games finished 25-10 after going 2-1 in the NIT ... There was one tense moment in last night's game. Savovic was called for traveling on a fast-break lay-up attempt with two minutes left before half. On his way back to the Hawaii bench during the ensuing timeout, Savovic took a forearm in the back by Andre Hazel, which sent him into the Nevada bench. Savovic had words with Nevada coach Trent Johnson and then Johnson and Wallace exchanged words at midcourt before going back to their respective benches ... This is the sixth time in the 19-year history of the WAC tournament that the two top seeds advanced to the final.
Where: Reynolds Center (8,335), Tulsa, Okla. GAMEDAY
When: 4 p.m. Hawaii time
TV: Live, ESPN2
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Internet: kccn1420am.com
Tulsa 81, Fresno State 65: Greg Harrington had 25 points and Kevin Johnson added 20 for the Golden Hurricane to advance to the WAC tournament title game.
Second-seeded Tulsa (26-5) raced to a 41-27 halftime lead, pushing the ball up court at every opportunity against the Bulldogs (19-14).
Melvin Ely -- who scored 30 points -- kept Fresno State close in the second half. Ely's hook shot with 9:55 to play made it 57-50.
But the Golden Hurricane countered with a 6-0 run.
The Bulldogs made another run and cut the lead to 68-60 with 4:50 left, but Harrington hit a 3-pointer to widen the lead.
PROBABLE STARTERS
HAWAII (26-5) Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Predrag Savovic (Sr.) 6-6 19.7 4.8 4.5 G Carl English (So.) 6-5 15.9 4.8 3.6 G Mark Campbell (Jr.) 6-4 3.8 2.6 4.9 F Phil Martin (So.) 6-8 8.8 4.7 0.8 C H.Shimonovich (So.) 6-10 7.4 6.6 2.9 TULSA (26-5) Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Greg Harrington (Sr.) 6-2 13.0 3.5 5.8 G Dante Swanson (Sr.) 5-10 12.2 3.7 2.6 G Antonio Reed (Jr.) 5-10 10.4 3.0 4.2 F Charlie Davis (Jr.) 6-7 9.9 3.0 2.7 F Kevin Johnson (Jr.) 6-7 14.8 5.4 0.9 Notes: The series is tied 6-6, with Hawaii winning the last three meetings, including last year's WAC title game. The Rainbows swept the season series, rallying from a 13-point deficit to win 90-82 at the Reynolds Center on Jan. 26. On Feb. 21 at the Sheriff Center, Mark Campbell hit the game-winning free throw with 2.9 seconds left in an 86-85 victory ... Hawaii coach Riley Wallace is in his 15th season (242-203). ... Hawaii is looking to become just the fourth team in the 19-year history of the WAC Tournament to repeat. The other teams were Wyoming (1987-88), UTEP (1989-90) and BYU (1991-92) ... Savovic extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer to 33. McIntyre has 156 3-pointers, six shy of passing Alika Smith for second place in UH history. Savovic is the UH career leader with 171 ... The Golden Hurricane have won 11 of their last 12 games. Tulsa is 48-7 in 3-plus years in the Reynolds Center. Only Hawaii and Fresno State have defeated Tulsa twice at home since the arena opened on Dec. 29, 1998 ... As the second-seed, Tulsa will be wearing its road uniforms today. "That's OK," said Phillips. "We've been a pretty good road team this year."
At Tulsa, Okla. WAC TOURNAMENT
YESTERDAY
No. 1 Hawaii 90, No. 5 Nevada 62
No. 2 Tulsa 81, No. 6 Fresno State 65TODAY (HAWAII TIME)
Men
Tulsa vs. Hawaii, 4 p.m. (ESPN2)
Hawaii 90, Nevada 68
WOLF PACK (17-13, 9-9 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Snyder 4 13 1 1 27 6 0 9 Jackson 3 5 2 4 28 3 0 8 Paul 3 7 0 0 19 7 0 6 Green 4 9 5 6 33 3 1 16 Hill-Thomas 4 9 4 6 20 1 0 12 Hazel 3 6 1 1 18 5 2 8 Wilson 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Petty 1 4 2 2 20 1 3 5 Pinkney 2 3 0 0 22 1 1 4 Ochs 0 1 0 0 9 3 0 0 Eversteyn 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 24 58 15 20 200 34 7 68 RAINBOWS (26-5, 15-3 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 10 16 5 5 30 5 2 31 Martin 4 7 2 2 29 6 0 10 Shimonovich 0 1 5 8 30 2 3 5 Campbell 2 2 2 2 35 3 9 7 English 2 3 3 5 21 1 2 7 McIntyre 7 10 0 0 19 2 0 18 Takaki 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 Burneika 3 7 2 2 22 3 1 9 Holliday 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Jesinskis 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 Akpan 0 1 3 4 7 3 0 3 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 28 48 22 28 200 28 17 90 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 48, Nevada 32.
3-point goals -- Nevada 5-14 (Green 3-6, Snyder 0-4, Hazel 1-2, Petty 1-2); Hawaii 12-21 (Savovic 6-11, McIntyre 4-5, Campbell 1-1, Burneika 1-3, Jesinskis 0-1). Personal fouls -- Nevada 23, Hawaii 22. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Nevada 5 (Jackson, Hill-Thomas); Hawaii 10 (Campbell 3, English 2, Shimonovich, Savovic, Martin, Holliday, McIntyre). Blocked shots -- Nevada 3 (Jackson, Pinkney, Ochs); Hawaii 3 (Shimonovich 3). Turnovers -- Nevada 16 (Jackson 4, Green 4, Snyder 2, Hill-Thomas 2, Hazel 2, Paul, TEAM); Hawaii 11 (Savovic 3, Shimonovich 2, Campbell 2, Martin, English, Takaki, Akpan). Officials -- Bosone, Janssen, Ramos. A -- NA.
UH Athletics