Brigham Young's Thomas Watkins, left, looked for room to operate against Louisville's Brandon Jenkins.
Seasiders throw scare
into No. 14 Louisville
The Brigham Young-Hawaii basketball team nearly turned No. 14 Louisville's day-trip to Oahu's North Shore into a nightmare.
Not content to simply play the role of early-season sparring partner for the Cardinals, the NCAA Division II Seasiders led at halftime and were within three points with 2:36 left in yesterday's game at the Cannon Activities Center in Laie.
But Louisville managed to escape the ambush with an 89-79 season-opening win, rewarding coach Rick Pitino's gamble in scheduling the warmup heading into the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
"I thought from the moment we got on the plane it was a mistake, but we needed the game," a relieved Pitino said outside the Louisville locker room. "The more film we watched, the more we thought it was a mistake. In this gym they shoot lights out."
BYUH (2-1) hit 10 3-pointers and got 27 points and 10 boards from forward Austin Smylie to put a scare into Louisville. Guard Thomas Watkins hit three 3-pointers and finished with 15 points off the bench.
"It was fun, it's an honor to be able to play against them and I was proud of our players," BYUH coach Ken Wagner said. "We thought maybe we could play a little better. We hung in there, but they hit shots and their pressure got to us a little in the second half."
BYUH scored wins over three Division I teams last season -- Baylor, San Jose State and Northern Illinois. But none with the talent or reputation of Louisville, which had been stung in the islands before.
Louisville wrote itself into Chaminade's giant-killer legend some two decades ago by falling to the Silverswords twice in two years.
"We wanted to schedule somebody out here, or on the way out, that could give us a tough test on the road," said Pitino, whose team plays Iowa tomorrow in the first round of the Maui Invitational.
"We researched it and this was a team that we felt was so well-coached that if we didn't play hard we'd lose. We risked a lot, we really gambled with this game. But we really got a lot out of it by getting a victory."
Louisville All-America candidate Francisco Garcia, who will likely enter the NBA Draft after the season, picked up three fouls in the first 10 minutes of yesterday's game and was limited to 10 points and two rebounds.
Cardinal guards Taquan Dean and Larry O'Bannon picked up the slack with 18 points each. Dean made four 3-pointers, the last giving Louisville some breathing room at 83-77 with 2:20 left.
The Cardinals outrebounded the Seasiders 39-31, grabbing 21 off the offensive boards, and their defensive pressure contributed to 24 BYUH turnovers.
"We had to go to the press to get a victory," Pitino said. "We haven't been pressing with our starters, but we had no choice because we couldn't guard them.
"They're a great shooting team, one of the better shooting teams I've seen. It doesn't matter Division I or Division II."
Neither team led by more than four points in the first half. BYUH's Michael Stowell, Paul Peterson and Danny Jackson all hit from long distance late in the half and Smylie's short jumper gave the Seasiders a 40-36 advantage at halftime.
"It takes a couple minutes to get settled and realize they're human and we can play with them," Smylie said.
Seasider Shawn Opunui kept the momentum rolling by draining a 3-pointer to open the second half, putting BYUH up 43-36.
Trailing by three later in the half, Louisville put on the press and scored six points in 22 seconds to take a 51-48 lead. But BYUH refused to fold and tied the game at 67 on a Watkins jumper with 8:35 left.
Dean answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing to give Louisville the lead for good.
BYUH closed to 80-77 on two free throws by Smylie with 2:36 left, but Dean's trey from the right side 16 seconds later took the air out of the Seasiders' rally.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a team that big," Smylie said. "Even though we didn't win we're happy with the way we played and definitely happy for the opportunity."
Full circle: Yesterday's game was Pitino's first on Oahu since he served as interim head coach at the University of Hawaii in 1976. He began his career as a UH assistant.
"My window of opportunity of coaching is coming to a close, I've got five or six more years to go, so you always look back and praise your alma mater and the place that gave you your first job," Pitino said. "So the University of Hawaii was very significant in my life and I'm very thankful for that experience. ... But I don't want to play the Rainbow Warriors any time soon."
