DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Carl English scored a game-high 28 points last night as the Rainbows beat the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 73-67.
In another classic chapter of what has evolved into one of the Western Athletic Conference's hottest rivalries, Hawaii pulled out a 73-67 overtime victory over Tulsa last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Rainbows beat
Hurricane in OTBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com"Another typical Hawaii-Tulsa ball game," UH coach Riley Wallace said.
Hawaii guard Carl English hit a career-high eight 3-pointers and led the Rainbows with 28 points. Forward Phil Martin had 16 and made several key plays on both ends of the floor late in the contest.
Center Haim Shimonovich finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds and made a key defensive stop late in overtime.
A predominantly white-clad crowd of 9,229 at the Stan Sheriff Center, the biggest of the season, watched Hawaii (13-5, 6-4 WAC) win its fifth straight game against Tulsa (11-7, 4-5 WAC) and extend its home winning streak to 24 games, just two wins short of the school record.
Tulsa's Jason Parker and Kevin Johnson led a spirited Golden Hurricane attack. Parker led Tulsa with 22 points, while Johnson hammered the Rainbows in the paint for 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Golden Hurricane guard Dante Swanson was limited to 19 minutes after suffering an ankle injury.
"These kids really battled, but it just wasn't good enough," said Tulsa coach John Phillips, who saw his team lose its third straight game and its second in overtime in the last week.
The victory was the Rainbows' 21st straight at home against WAC competition and moved Hawaii into third place in the conference, two games behind leader Fresno State (8-2) and a half-game ahead of Rice and Southern Methodist.
Hawaii didn't disappoint the largest home crowd of the season early in the contest and took a 40-28 lead into halftime.
All but three of English's first-half field-goal attempts came behind the 3-point line, with five zipping through the net to match his previous high.
English also sparked the Rainbows with hustle plays, often needing just a fingertip to poke a loose ball to a teammate. He fed Vaidotas Peciukas for a layup to finish a fast break and give Hawaii a 33-18 lead with 3:38 left in the half.
The Rainbows outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 25-12 in the first 20 minutes and made 9 of 10 free throws.
But Tulsa went on a 12-2 run to open the second half and cut the Hawaii lead to 42-40 on a putback by Jarius Glenn, who hit a 3-pointer moments earlier.
Anthony Price then tied the game with a short jumper over Martin, who was playing with three fouls. Tulsa took its first lead at 46-45 on a layup by Kevin Johnson with 12:24 left.
But Hawaii responded immediately as English drained a 3-pointer from the right wing. English then turned the decibel level up to 10 by pulling up on a fast break to hit another trey to give Hawaii a 51-48 advantage with 11:16 left.
"That's the loudest I've every heard it here," English said.
But the Tulsa defense responded by holding English scoreless for the remainder of regulation.
Both teams went cold midway through the second half, before Michael Kuebler hit a 3-pointer from the top the key to extend the Rainbows' lead to 56-50 with four minutes left.
Johnson then went to work in the paint to hit two short jumpers and Parker tied the game again at 58 with a steal and a layup.
Hawaii regained the advantage at 60-58 with just over a minute remaining when Martin drained a jumper along the left baseline.
Parker then tied the game by driving to the basket and hitting a bank shot with 19.2 seconds left.
After calling a timeout, Hawaii set up in a 1-4 low set with Mark Campbell dribbling out the clock. But Campbell lost control on his drive into the paint as time expired to send the game into overtime.
Parker gave Tulsa the lead on a jumper to begin overtime. Martin tied the game with a reverse layup and English broke his cold spell with a 3-pointer to give Hawaii the lead for good at the 2:50 mark.
After Tulsa closed to three at 70-67 on a trey by Glenn, Shimonovich hit a free throw and knocked away a pass on Tulsa's next possession. Campbell retrieved the loose ball and scored on a layup to seal the game for Hawaii.
The next step for the Rainbows is to find a way to transport their proficiency at home with them as they leave tonight for a road games at Louisiana Tech and Southern Methodist.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Fresno St. 8 2 .800 15 4 Nevada 6 3 .667 11 8 Hawaii 6 4 .600 13 5 Rice 5 4 .556 13 6 SMU 5 4 .556 10 9 Boise St. 4 5 .444 10 9 Louisiana Tech 4 5 .444 7 9 Tulsa 4 5 .444 11 7 San Jose St. 2 7 .222 5 13 UTEP 2 7 .222 4 14
Hawaii 73, Tulsa 67, OT
WARRIORS (13-5, 6-4 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 7 12 2 4 35 6 0 16 Shimonovich 3 5 6 9 37 11 6 12 Campbell 3 8 2 3 42 5 5 8 English 9 20 2 2 45 4 2 28 Kuebler 2 9 2 3 39 3 3 7 Zivanovic 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Carter 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 Peciukas 1 1 0 0 6 2 0 2 Akpan 0 3 0 0 17 3 2 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 30 55 20 27 200 36 18 85 GOLDEN HURRICANE (11-7, 4-5 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Swanson 1 5 0 0 19 3 1 3 Reed 1 6 0 0 38 1 1 2 Parker 9 16 2 2 41 3 4 22 Davis 1 3 0 2 34 6 0 2 Johnson 8 13 0 0 34 11 0 16 Wallace 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Glenn 5 14 0 0 32 6 0 12 Ledoux 2 2 0 1 10 1 0 4 Price 3 6 0 0 14 1 0 6 Team 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 Totals 27 62 9 12 200 27 10 70 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 28.
3-point goals--Hawaii 9-24 (English 8-14, Kuebler 1-4, Carter 0-2, Campbell 0-4), Tulsa 5-15 (Glenn 2-2, Parker 2-6, Swanson 1-4, Reed 0-3). Personal fouls--Hawaii 14, Tulsa 18. Technical fouls--Tulsa: Bench. Steals--Hawaii 12 (Martin 3, Campbell 3, Shimonovich 2, English 2, Akpan 2); Tulsa 12 (Parker 6, Reed 2, Davis 2, Glenn 2). Blocked shots--Hawaii 3 (Shimonovich 3); Tulsa 4 (Swanson 2, Johnson, Ledoux). Turnovers--Hawaii 19 (Shimonovich 6, Martin 3, Campbell 3, Kuebler 3, English 2, Carter, Akpan); Tulsa 21 (Reed 6, Parker 3, Davis 3, Glenn 3, Johnson 2, Swanson, Wallace, Ledoux, team). Officials--Bob Sitov, Brian Harrison, Larry Yamashita. A--9,861.
