Matt Gipson of Hawaii pulled in one of his four rebounds last night against Rice.
UH’s prayer answered
Rainbows go ahead on Nash’s
four-point play late in overtime
Bobby Nash let it fly and prayed.
After flinging up his 3-pointer while being knocked to the floor, the Hawaii guard didn't see the ball bang off the backboard and fall through the net. But the sound in the Stan Sheriff Center let him know the result.
"I closed my eyes and hoped and prayed they'd call a foul," Nash said. "I'm happy it went in.
"I just heard everybody scream, so I was like, 'Hey, it went in. Now I have to go make another free throw.' "
With Hawaii trailing by three, Nash banked in a 3-pointer while being fouled and drained the ensuing free throw with 15.5 seconds left in overtime to lift the Rainbow Warriors to a heart-stopping 75-72 victory over Rice in last night's Western Athletic Conference game.
The four-point play erased a 72-69 Rice lead and was the decisive blow in a seesaw second half in which UH overcame an 11-point deficit to end a three-game losing streak.
"It's a W. The fans got their money's worth," UH coach Riley Wallace said.
Nash, who hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer in a UH win over Oral Roberts in the Rainbow Classic in December, finished with a career-high 20 points. He hit eight of 11 shots from the field, none bigger than his final shot in front of the UH bench.
UH forward Jeff Blackett hit two free throws with 1.5 seconds left in OT for the last of his 20 points as UH won its sixth straight overtime game.
Forward Julian Sensley added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Rainbows' five losses this season have come by a total of 11 points. They thrilled the crowd of 4,810 by reversing their fortunes.
"We've been in that situation before, and it seemed like they all had gone the other team's way. We were bound to get one," Blackett said.
"It's not like we don't deserve that win; we didn't get lucky. (Nash) hit an amazing shot, but we fought hard the whole game."
UH's last-second heroics overshadowed another stellar performance by Rice forward Michael Harris, who led all scorers with 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Guard Jason McKrieth, held to five points in the first half, finished with 20.
Jeff Blackett of Hawaii scored two of his 20 points last night on this shot in the lane.
Harris has averaged 22.5 points on 69 percent shooting in Rice's last four games against UH.
"Once we got back on D you try to do what you can on Harris and McKrieth," Blackett said, "and hopefully we can lay off on some of the other guys and help on McKrieth driving and help on Harris posting up and it seemed to work."
The Rainbows (11-5, 3-5 WAC) spoiled the Owls' farewell appearance in the Sheriff Center as WAC members while climbing into a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference along with Southern Methodist and Boise State.
Hawaii ends the homestand against Tulsa (4-13, 1-7) tomorrow at the Sheriff Center.
Rice (10-6, 5-3) is among four schools moving to Conference USA this summer and now is tied for third with Fresno State, two games behind WAC leaders UTEP and Nevada.
"(UH) did a good job with the flex and they shot the ball better (after halftime)," a visibly upset Rice coach Willis Wilson said after the Owls dropped their second straight.
Harris went into halftime with 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field. But the Rainbows limited the rest of the Owls to 19 and whittled a 12-point deficit to four at the break, 34-30.
Harris accounted for eight points in a 15-2 Rice run that gave the Owls a 22-10 lead.
"That was just a lack of intensity," Wallace said. "If we don't play as hard as we can play, we're a very average team. ... We have to work for everything we're going to get."
Nash's 3-pointer with 38 seconds left capped a perfect shooting half (4-for-4) and sent UH into the locker room with a bit of momentum.
"It's just a feeling. You just have to get into the rhythm," Nash said. "My teammates were finding me and getting me the ball in the sweet spots where I like to shoot it and I was hitting open shots."
Rice stretched the lead back to 11 early in the second half, going up 46-35 on a J.R. Harrison 3-pointer.
UH then outscored the Owls 13-5 over the next 5:40 and trailed by one, 52-51, when Nash got a turnaround jumper to drop.
The Rainbows took their first lead since the opening minutes of the game when Jake Sottos fed Blackett for a layup with 7:42 left.
Harris picked up his fourth foul going for a rebound and went to the bench at the 5:43 mark.
Rice regained a 62-61 advantage on a McKrieth 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:57 left, only to see Hawaii respond with a Sottos layup off a pass from Nash.
UH led 65-62 with 2 minutes remaining, but McKrieth hit a free throw and knocked down a baseline jumper to tie the game with 1:04 left.
Nash then missed two free throws and Rice took possession with 27.5 seconds remaining. After a timeout, the Owls worked the clock down and Harris' jumper from the right side was short. Nash grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 1.5 seconds left, but UH couldn't manage a shot, sending the game into overtime.
After UH went up 66-65, Rice regained the lead on an 18-foot jumper by Gillespie and a Harris dunk with 2:32 left.
After Sensley knotted the game with a 3-pointer from the left wing, McKrieth hit a pull-up jumper and drained a free throw, putting Rice up 72-69 with 28.6 seconds remaining.
Nash then stunned the Owls with his prayer from the right side and the free throw.
"I just saw him falling out of bounds," Wallace said. "It was our turn."
Rice had another shot to reclaim the lead but McKrieth's jumper then fell short and Harris' awkward shot was off the mark. Blackett was fouled and hit his free throws to seal the win.
WAC Basketball standings
WAC Overall W L Pct. GB W L UTEP 7 1 .875 -- 17 3 Nevada 7 1 .875 -- 14 4 Fresno State 5 3 .625 2 11 6 Rice 5 3 .714 2 10 6 Louisiana Tech 4 4 .500 3 9 8 Hawaii 3 5 .375 4 11 5 SMU 3 5 .375 4 8 8 Boise State 3 5 .375 4 9 10 San Jose State 2 6 .250 5 5 12 Tulsa 1 7 .125 6 4 13 Yesterday
Hawaii 75, Rice 72
San Jose St. 76, Tulsa 69
UTEP 60, SMU 55
Louisiana Tech 93, Boise St. 60
Tomorrow
Tulsa at Hawaii, 7:05 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
Fresno State at Nevada
Boise State at SMU
UTEP at Louisiana Tech
Rice at San Jose State
Hawaii 75, Rice 72 OT
Owls (10-6, 5-3 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Gillespie 4 10 1 2 33 2 0 11 Moore 1 5 0 0 22 2 3 2 Harris 10 16 5 6 36 12 2 25 McKrieth 7 11 4 6 38 5 4 20 Britton 0 0 2 2 26 1 0 2 Packevicius 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Harrison 2 7 0 0 29 4 0 5 Okrzesik 1 2 1 1 11 0 2 3 Almond 1 2 0 0 17 3 2 2 Killings 1 1 0 0 11 2 0 2 Team 1 Totals 27 54 13 17 225 32 13 72 Rainbow Warriors (11-5, 3-5 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Gibson 2 7 0 0 16 1 1 5 Sottos 3 11 1 2 36 1 5 8 Blackett 7 13 6 6 37 6 2 20 Sensley 3 7 3 4 43 11 5 10 Botez 2 5 0 0 20 2 0 4 Gipson 1 5 2 2 31 4 3 4 Nash 8 11 1 3 37 2 2 20 Team 2 Totals 26 59 17 21 225 30 18 75 Key -- fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime -- Rice 34, Hawaii 30.
End of regulation -- Rice 65, Hawaii 65.
3-point goals -- Rice 5-14 (McKrieth 2-3, Gillespie 2-6, Harrison 1-3, Moore 0-1, Okrzesik 0-1), Hawaii 6-20 (Nash 3-6, Gibson 1-3, Sensley 1-3, Sottos 1-6, Blackett 0-1, Gipson 0-1). Personal fouls -- Rice 20, Hawaii 14. Fouled out -- None. Technical fouls--None.
Steals -- Rice 6 (McKrieth 2, Harris, Britton, Harrison, Okrzesik), Hawaii 6 (Sensley 3, Nash 2, Sottos). Blocked shots -- Rice 4 (Harrison 2, Harris, Almond), Hawaii 3 (Sottos, Blackett, Botez). Turnovers -- Rice 19 (McKrieth 4, Okrzesik 4, Moore 3, Harrison 3, Harris 2, Gillespie, Britton, Almond), Hawaii 15 (Blackett 5, Gipson 3, Nash 2, Botez 2, Gibson, Sensley, Team). Officials -- Gracey, Ferrie, Stith. Attendance--6,560.
Wilson hot over
another loss here
Willis Wilson was a member of the Rice team that beat Hawaii in the first round of the 1981 Rainbow Classic. And the Owls, led by future NBA star Ricky Pierce, went on to win that tournament.
But as the Rice coach, Wilson could never recapture that magic. The Owls lost their seventh game at Hawaii against no wins last night, and Wilson has said on several occasions he is glad Rice is headed out of the Western Athletic Conference because his team won't have to come to Hawaii.
This 75-72 overtime loss to the Rainbow Warriors was especially frustrating for Wilson for two reasons: Rice blew a 39-30 second-half lead, and the coach felt the officiating was one-sided.
"We should've gotten out of here with a win," he said.
Rice was whistled for 20 fouls, compared to 14 for Hawaii.
"I'm going to have a real hard time making objective comments," Wilson said.
He did though, complimenting UH's second-half comeback.
But then he became angry when asked specific questions about the officiating.
"That's an understatement," he said, when asked if he had a problem with the way the referees called the game. "Why would you ask that?"
Then he declined to answer when asked if he was specifically bothered by a fourth foul called on Rice star forward Michael Harris with 5:43 left in regulation.
"I don't have any more comments," Wilson said, and then he stomped away back to the visiting locker room, punching the door on his way in.
Rice guard Jason McKrieth was quite a bit cooler than his coach was after the game.
"You've just got to play ball, you can't worry about the officials, said McKrieth, who scored 20 points, but missed a 16-footer that could've won the game with time running out in overtime. "We're all human beings, refs included,"
Harris had game highs of 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Brock Gillespie scored 11 in place of injured starting guard Lorenzo Williams.
Last night's result was a reversal of last year's WAC tournament quarterfinal game between the two teams. Rice beat Hawaii 70-68, as the Rainbows' Phil Martin had a last-second point-blank shot rim out, sending UH out of contention for an NCAA Tournament berth.
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