UH in Classic final

The Rainbow Warriors put it together to earn a shot at another tournament title

Exactly a year after relinquishing the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic crown, Hawaii earned itself a shot at recapturing the title with an 81-72 semifinal win over Nebraska last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii    Nebraska 81 72 Next Up vs. Creighton today

The Rainbow Warriors dominated the boards and never trailed in reaching the tournament final for the seventh time in the past eight years.

Hawaii's win prevented an all-Nebraska final, and the Rainbows (7-4) will attempt to capture the program's 11th Rainbow Classic championship tonight against Creighton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

"We realize how big the game is (tonight)," UH guard Matt Lojeski said after the Rainbows' third straight win. "We're expected to win this tournament, it's been a tradition over the years. It didn't happen last year, but we want to get right back on track winning this tournament."

Creighton, the preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference, defeated Houston in yesterday's first semifinal to advance to the championship game.

"Creighton is so organized, they've got their shooters and they know their roles," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "We'll have to be really prepared. ... We'll have to play our best basketball of the year to beat them."

Nebraska (7-3) plays Houston for third place at 5 p.m.

The Rainbows had a string of four tournament titles snapped with a loss in last year's semifinals. They prevented a repeat by running out to a 20-point halftime lead behind a balanced performance and outrebounding the Cornhuskers 45-23.

Hawaii center Ahmet Gueye powered the Rainbows in the paint with 16 points and 11 rebounds, for his third double-double of the season.

Guard Matt Lojeski went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line to finish with a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds and the Rainbows survived a late-game lull as Nebraska cut a 21-point deficit to seven in the final minutes.

Turnovers continued to be an issue for the 'Bows as they gave the ball away 22 times, leading to 40 Nebraska points.

With center Aleks Maric on the bench for most of the game due to fouls and an injury, freshman guard Ryan Anderson hit seven 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 29 points for Nebraska.

Maric, the Cornhuskers' leading scorer with 19.8 points per game, played just 8 minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls and had to be helped from the floor 47 seconds into the second half. He later returned after getting taped up, but ended the game with ice on his left ankle and finished with eight points and three rebounds.

Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said Maric got kicked in the shin and expects him to play tonight.

"He's a great player. Our focus we worked on a lot in practice was just pushing him up the lane and get him away from the basket and not let him get that easy little hook shot that he likes," said UH center Stephen Verwers, who came off the bench to post six points and a career-high nine rebounds.

UH scored the game's first eight points and outrebounded the Cornhuskers 28-8 in the first half to take a commanding 43-23 lead into halftime.

Center Stephen Verwers, who lost his starting job earlier this month, gave the Rainbows a boost inside with six points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 11 minutes off the bench.

"You have to give Hawaii credit, I thought they came out and played twice as hard as we did," Sadler said. "That's frustrating as a basketball coach. ... They were getting every loose ball. They were getting every defensive and offensive rebound. They did every thing you've got to do to win basketball games."

Hawaii had 13-3 runs twice in the half to establish control. Both runs included technical fouls on the Nebraska bench that resulted in head coach Doc Sadler's ejection with 5:13 left.

"The only thing I will say about that is everybody in the coaching profession has a saying that you're never really a coach until you've gotten thrown out in Hawaii, so I guess I'm a coach now," Sadler said.

The Hawaii big men traded paint with Maric early in an effort to deny the Cornhusker center ball and keep him from the basket. The physical play had Sadler seeing red and the Nebraska coach was tagged with a technical foul at the 9:46 mark, just after Maric picked up his second personal.

Maric didn't play the rest of the first half and Sadler's night was over less than 6 minutes later when the Nebraska bench was hit with a second technical foul. Assistant coach Philip Mathews ran the Cornhuskers the rest of the way.

Hawaii shot 50 percent (14-for-28) from the field and made 13 of 15 free throws before Nebraska attempted its first. The Cornhuskers were 8-for-31 from the floor.

Anderson chipped into the Hawaii lead with three 3-pointers in the first 6 minutes of the second half, the third bringing the Huskers to within 13 at 51-38.

But UH maintained a comfortable edge into the final minutes when Nebraska made an 11-1 run, cutting the lead to 10 at 70-60 with 3:34 left when Charles Richardson stole an inbounds pass and converted the layup.

Anderson's seventh 3-pointer of the game with 2:20 left then brought the lead to single digits at 72-63. The Huskers got to within seven with 11.7 seconds left, but that would be as close as the Cornhuskers would get.

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