RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Hawaii Bowl turned ugly last night when Hawaii and University of Houston fought at the end of the game.
UH’s 54-48 victory
over Houston is
a real riotSmall crowd sees
UH put up big points
It wasn't the kind of crowd Sheraton Hawaii Bowl officials were looking for, but those who did attend the Christmas Day game were treated to a thriller.
Michael Brewster's 8-yard touchdown run in the third overtime sent Hawaii to a 54-48 victory over Houston in a game that ended with an ugly fight at midfield.
Shortly after Hawaii stopped the Cougars on fourth down in the third OT, several scuffles broke out with some players swinging helmets at each other and throwing punches.
Coaches and police broke up the brawl after several minutes, and both teams finally headed to their locker rooms. The game was played on a balmy 80- degree day in front of an announced crowd of 25,551 fans, the smallest at Aloha Stadium this season.
It was the third bowl appearance in five years for the Warriors. Hawaii lost to Tulane 36-28 last year in the inaugural Hawaii Bowl and almost made it two straight thanks to some miscues down the stretch.
Houston (7-6) took advantage of a major clock management mistake by Hawaii (9-5) to tie it at 34 with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
After the Warriors blew a chance to run out the clock and missed a short field-goal attempt, Houston's Vincent Marshall caught an 81-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Kolb to tie it.
In the first overtime, Hawaii's Tim Chang completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Britton Komine, and Houston tied it on Anthony Evans' 6-yard run.
Houston went up 48-41 in the second overtime on a 4-yard run by Jackie Battle, but Hawaii answered with an 18-yard pass from Chang to Jason Rivers.
The Cougars nearly got the victory when they partially blocked Hawaii's extra point, but the ball still went through the uprights.
It was the fifth straight bowl loss for the Cougars. Houston, making its first bowl appearance since 1996, has not won in the postseason since defeating Navy in the 1980 Garden State Bowl.
Chang, selected the game's most valuable player, was 26-of-42 passing for 475 yards and five touchdowns after coming off the bench. The junior moved into third place on the NCAA career passing list with 12,814 yards.
Rivers had seven receptions for 143 yards and three touchdowns for the Warriors. Jeremiah Cockheran added five catches for 162 yards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
