GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Michael Kuebler had a game-high 29 points and played 44 minutes last night.
’Bows come back Oh, what a game.
for title
Hawaii overcomes a 21-point deficit
to win the Rainbow ClassicBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comAs good as beating No. 2 Kansas in 1997 was, last night's overtime victory over previously undefeated Butler may have been better. Hawaii came back from a 21-point first-half deficit to win the 39th Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic championship in dramatic fashion, 81-78, in front of 6,641 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbows (7-1) dropped the Bulldogs (10-1) from the unbeaten ranks behind a career-high 29 points from junior guard Michael Kuebler and 21 from tournament MVP Carl English. Hawaii extended its home winning streak to 19 and "we didn't want to lose a big tournament like this, especially at home," said English.
"It was the drive inside that was the difference. We never gave up. We didn't want to lose. If we want to get some national recognition, these are the teams you have to beat."
A win over Butler, ranked No. 7 in the Sagarin ratings, could go a long way in helping Hawaii to an NCAA Tournament at-large berth should the Rainbows not win the Western Athletic Conference. The Rainbows left this morning for Texas-El Paso, where they'll open league play Thursday against the Miners.
"It was a wonderful game to watch," said Butler coach Todd Lickliter. "It was a hard-fought game on both sides. Comebacks are always fun to watch.
"We looked awfully good in the first half. We shot the lights out. They hit 21 free throws to our 12 and we lose by three. I'm proud of how our guys played."
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace was equally as proud.
"I don't know of a better championship game that I've been involved with, and this is my 22nd," said Wallace. "Our fans were great, they never gave up on us. This has got to be one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the Classic. I know I've never been in a game where a team comes back from 21 and wins."
Down by as many as 21 early and by 15, 64-49 with 4:02 to go, English led a 17-2 run that tied the game at 66. Haim Shimonovich had a chance to win it with 30.8 seconds left but missed the front end of a 1-and-1; Shimonovich then blocked Joel Cornette with one second left to send the game into overtime.
Kuebler gave Hawaii a 68-66 lead with two free throws. Darnell Archey's lone 3-pointer of the game put Butler ahead briefly at 69-68, but Shimonovich's shot was good on a goal-tend and Hawaii hung on as Kuebler sank four free throws in the final 18 seconds to ice it.
"I couldn't really hear the crowd," said Kuebler, who finished 10 of 11 from the line. "I was just focusing on making those shots. We had worked too hard to lose it."
Helping the Rainbows was a full-court press that new assistant Bob Burke had talked Wallace into earlier this season.
"This is the first time in my four years that we really worked on it," said English. "I didn't know why we were doing it but it worked out just as planned, just like in practice."
Last night, the Bulldogs took advantage of two charge fouls on English. He came into the day as the tourney's scoring leader (45 points), but was scoreless (0-for-2) when he headed to the bench with 15:12 remaining before intermission and the Rainbows leading 8-4.
The Bulldogs bit back hard, taking advantage of defensive switches that didn't pan out for UH. Duane Lightfoot scored three straight layups and Cornette had a follow-up jam to put Butler ahead 12-8.
Hawaii closed to 14-12 with 11:46 left then didn't score for more than five minutes. By the time Shimonovich ended the drought, Butler was up 27-14.
Two quick 3-pointers by freshman Bruce Horan gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the half, 35-14, with 5:13 left. English, who had returned a minute earlier, helped stabilized the defense and jump-started the offense with four of UH's final 12 points.
Hawaii, trailing 37-26 at halftime, outscored Butler 14-9 in the first five minutes to pull to 46-40. English capped the opening run with UH's first 3-pointer of the game. The Rainbows missed their first five 3-point attempts.
Butler, hitting its first five from long distance, finished 12-for-24. Horan's 15 points all came in the first half on those five 3-pointers
Lightfoot led Butler with 18 points, going 9-for-9 from the floor, before fouling out. Monserez added 12, all in the second half, on four 3-pointers, before he fouled out.
English added 21 and Shimonovich 14.
Named to the all-tournament team were Patrick Sparks, Western Kentucky; Danny Granger, Bradley; Darnell Archey, Butler; Duane Lightfoot, Butler; Nkeruwem Akpan, Hawaii, and English of Hawaii.
Western Kentucky 74, Tennessee Tech 51: The Hilltoppers (7-5) were beaten Sunday by Bradley with a 3-pointer. They turned the tables on the Golden Eagles (6-6) last night with 3-pointers ... 10 of them.
Western hit five consecutive 3-pointers to open the game to claim third place. Filip Videnov finished with 17 points, 15 on 3-pointers, to lead the Hilltoppers.
Videnov had three of Western's first five 3-pointers to help his team to a 15-4 lead. The Toppers had nine treys in the first half, with Videnov going 5 of 7 and Patrick Sparks hitting one at the buzzer, to go ahead 39-21 at intermission.
The Golden Eagles opened the second half with a 6-2 run to pull to 41-27 but Tech never got any closer the rest of the way.
Also in double figures for Western were Jamaal Brown with 16, 13 in the second half, and Sparks with 11. Damien Kinoch led Tech with 13, hitting 9 of 10 free throws.
The game was delayed by 10 minutes after referee Duane Allen slipped on the baseline with 5:34 left in the game. Allen was diagnosed with a sprained ACL in his left knee and was replaced by former Chaminade guard Ryan Wells, who also officiated the Hawaii-Butler game.
Bradley 88, Chicago State 76: Phillip Gilbert scored 22 points and the Braves (4-7) put away the Cougars (3-8) early to claim fifth place.
Bradley hit seven 3-pointers -- two each by Gilbert, Mike Suggs and James Gillingham -- to take a 50-22 halftime lead. Suggs and Gillingham finished with 19 points apiece while Danny Granger added 13 and 12 defensive rebounds.
Craig Franklin scored 17 points to lead Chicago State. Also in double figures for the Cougars were Derrick Wimmer (14), Rubeen Perry (11) and Tony Hansbro (11).
Alcorn State 74, Texas-Pan American: The Braves (2-9) ended a seven-game skid in upending the Broncs (4-11) in the seventh-place game.
Alcorn State hit seven of its nine 3-pointers, including three by Jason Cable, in the opening 20 minutes for a 40-26 halftime lead.
Cable finished with a game-high 17 points with teammate Lee Cook adding 13.
Texas-Pan American got 14 points from Kevin Mitchell and 11 from Allen Holcomb. The Broncs went 0-for-13 from 3-point range.
Key -- fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points. Hawaii 81, Butler 78
RAINBOWS (7-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 2 12 3 4 36 9 0 7 Shimonovich 6 14 2 4 40 10 5 14 Campbell 2 5 2 2 39 6 6 6 English 7 15 4 5 36 4 2 21 Kuebler 9 12 10 11 44 5 1 29 Carter 1 2 0 0 14 1 0 2 Peciukas 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Akpan 1 2 0 0 12 1 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 28 62 21 26 225 39 14 81 BUTLER (10-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Miller 1 2 10 11 39 1 4 12 Archey 1 11 2 2 35 1 1 5 Monserez 4 6 0 0 35 5 5 12 Cornette 4 9 0 0 34 4 2 8 Curry 0 4 0 0 12 1 0 0 Lightfoot 9 9 0 0 28 2 1 18 Horan 5 7 0 1 26 5 0 15 Sheets 3 4 0 0 12 1 0 8 Gardner 0 0 0 0 5 2 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 27 52 12 14 225 23 13 78
Halftime -- Hawaii 26, Butler 37.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 4-13 (English 3-8, Kuebler 1-3, Campbell 0-1, Carter 0-1), Butler 12-24 (Horan 5-7, Monserez 4-5, Sheets 2-3, Archey 1-5, Miller 0-1, Curry 0-3). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 18, Butler 24. Technical fouls -- None. Steals--Hawaii 1 (Campbell); Butler 9 (Sheets 3, Monserez 2, Miller, Archey, Curry, Gardner). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 3 (Shimonovich, Kuebler, Martin); Butler 2 (Cornette 2). Turnovers -- Hawaii 13 (English 4, Campbell 2, Shimonovic 2, Martin 2, Akpan 2, Kuebler); Butler 13 (Monserez 6, Miller 2, Gardner 2, Archey, Cornette, Lightfoot). Officials -- Bosone, Shapiro, Wells. A -- 6,641.
Most Valuable Player -- Carl English, Hawaii All-tournament team
Patrick Sparks, Western Kentucky; Danny Granger, Bradley; Darnell Archey, Butler; Duane Lightfoot, Butler; Tony Akpan, Hawaii.
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