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RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Matt Gibson drove past Oral Roberts' Luke Spencer-Gardner last night in the first half.

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’Bows beat
the buzzer

Bobby Nash finds his stroke
just in time to defeat
the Eagles

With one shot, all of Bobby Nash's frustrations suddenly washed away.

Nash had struggled mightily with his stroke during the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic. But none of his previous misses mattered after he drained a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Hawaii basketball team to a heart-stopping 55-54 victory last night over Oral Roberts at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"I didn't know where I was, I just knew time was running out and I had to put a shot up," Nash said. "It had to go."

The win sent UH to the Rainbow Classic championship game for the sixth straight year as the Rainbow Warriors will try to secure their fourth consecutive tournament crown against USC tonight at 7:30.

With points coming in a trickle much of the night, the Rainbows (7-0) were able to wring just enough points out of the Sheriff Center rims to maintain their perfect record.

Nash, who missed all seven of his attempts against Long Beach State on Monday and hadn't fared much better most of last night's game, finished with seven points and thrilled the crowd of 5,916 with his game-winner.

UH forward Matthew Gipson posted a season best with 19 points and 12 rebounds as UH bumped Oral Roberts (8-1) from the ranks of the unbeatens. Jeff Blackett added eight points and 12 boards and guard Matt Gibson finished with 10 points.

As a team UH outrebounded ORU 44-32.

"Coming into the game we said transition and rebounding would be the key," Gipson said. "You take away their transitions and hit the boards and you'll have a chance."

ORU forward Caleb Green led the Eagles with 15 points and 16 rebounds, while guard Ken Tutt contributed 16.

Defense dominated the first half, with both teams struggling to get open looks at the basket.

Hawaii, which shot 28 percent from the field in Monday's win over Long Beach State, made just one of its first 11 shots last night and trailed 20-12 at the 6:55 mark.

With four substitutes on the floor, the Rainbows battled back and got back to within a point and trailed 24-23 at halftime.

The Rainbows' work on the offensive boards resulted in 10 second-chance points before halftime. UH outrebounded the Eagles 27-16 in the first half, and had 13 offensive rebounds.

UH, which had made just two of 21 3-point attempts in its last two games, finally found its touch from outside as Jake Sottos drained a 3 and Gibson added two more early in the second half. Gibson's second gave Hawaii a 40-36 lead.

ORU tied the game and the teams spent the next 7 minutes trading the lead.

The Eagles went up 54-51 on a layup by Larry Owens with 3:23 left. UH got back within two, and missed two opportunities to tie the game.

But ORU couldn't stretch the lead and UH got the ball back with 52.6 seconds left when ORU's Luke Spencer-Gardner stumbled and was called for traveling.

Hawaii had three shots to tie, but all three bounced out and Green secured the rebound and was fouled with 10.4 seconds left.

Green missed the front end of the one-and-one and Gipson grabbed the rebound. The Rainbows worked the ball upcourt and Nash found himself with the ball and time running down. He then launched the game-winner and sprinted down the court after the ball zipped through the net.

"That's what you dream of as a little kid," he said.

In the other semifinal, Jim Saia's moment of inspiration and Rory O'Neil's shooting stroke resulted in a thrilling 81-78 semifinal win for the Trojans.

With the score tied at 78 and 13 seconds left in the game, Saia, USC's interim head coach, drew up a play the Trojans had never used before.

The players then executed it to perfection as O'Neil found himself alone at the top of the key and drained the game-winning 3-pointer with 5.3 seconds left to give the Trojans their fourth straight win.

"I drew up a last-second play that we hadn't run," Saia said. "They had to pick their poison. Either we were going to get it inside, we had Lodrick (Stewart) as a shooter on the right-hand corner and we knew Rory was coming up, and he hit the 3.

"I can draw it up, but the players make the plays."

Gabriel Pruitt led the Trojans (6-3) with 15 points, while Stewart had 14 and O'Neil and Nick Young finished with 13 each.

UAB (6-3) erased a 13-point USC lead in the second half and led 77-75 before Pruitt drained a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock to put USC ahead by one with 43.8 seconds left.

A free-throw by UAB's Ronell Taylor tied the game with 40.9 seconds left, but USC had the final answer.

"That's a Sweet 16 team and it's a great win for us," Saia said. "I don't think USC has had a win like that in a long time. ... I'm just so happy that they're feeling good about themselves and they're learning how to win."

Consolation Bracket

Georgetown 57, Long Beach State 51: Jeff Green scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Hoyas (5-3) into today's fifth-place game against Clemson.

The freshman hit seven of 12 shots from the field and all six of his free-throw attempts. He also recorded four steals. As a team Georgetown made 18 of 21 shots from the line.

Long Beach State trailed by 10 with 2:41 left but got back to within three with 11 seconds remaining. But Green made four free throws in the final 7 seconds to thwart the 49ers' rally.

Shawn Hawkins led Long Beach State with 18 points.

Clemson 83, Indiana State 57: The Tigers shot 53 percent from the field, while the Sycamores could not recover from another slow start.

Clemson forward Akin Akingbala led the Tigers with 13 points. Center Sharrod Ford finished with nine points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

Indiana State, which was 4-for-26 from the field in the first half against USC on Tuesday, went 7-for-29 yesterday in falling behind 44-24 at halftime.

The Sycamores play Long Beach State in the seventh-place game today at 11 a.m.