By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Fulfilling just about every definition of aloha, the Hawai‘i men’s basketball team defeated Texas Christian, 102-87, last night.
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| Mindaugas Burneika shows his stuff against Texas Christian. UH won, 102-87, in the final home game for UH seniors.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The Rainbows bid goodbye to their four seniors and to TCU in style, producing their highest point-total of the season, and coming one assist short of a team record.
"I couldn’t have wrote it any better myself," said Troy Ostler, one of the Rainbows’ four seniors playing at home for the final time. "My family is here, the crowd was here, and we played our best basketball of the season. It’s an incredible feeling."
The Rainbows closed their regular-season home schedule by winning seven consecutive games in the Stan Sheriff Center. An energetic crowd of 5,365 last night watched Hawai‘i improve to 13-12 overall ö climbing above .500 for the first time since December ö and 7-7 in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Horned Frogs, who are leaving the WAC for Conference USA next season, fell to 18-9 and 7-6. Only a month ago, TCU beat Hawai‘i by 39 points in Forth Worth, Texas.
"It feels real good," said coach Riley Wallace, who also noted that the team dedicated the game to critically-injured football coach June Jones.
To be sure, the Rainbows shared the feeling ... and the basketball.
All five Hawai‘i starters scored in double-figures: Mike McIntyre (21), Nerijus Puida (19), Ostler (18), Mindaugas Burneika (17), Predrag Savovic (16). The Rainbows also combined for 30 assists, one shy of the team record set in 1971.
Puida, another senior, hit four 3-pointers and dished out six assists to lead a Rainbow offense that connected on 61 percent of its shots (36-of-59), including 56 percent (10-of-18) from 3-point range.
McIntyre, who made three 3’s, said the key was a TCU defense that concentrated on stopping the Rainbows’ point of attack. That left the corners wide open, and the Hawai‘i shooters, McIntyre and Puida in particular, responded.
"They had all their guys at the top, trying to stop the ball," McIntyre said. "All we had to do was get the ball (to the corners). If they give us wide-open looks like that, we’re going to make more than we miss."
The strategy was especially effective in the second half, when the Rainbows broke open a close game by shooting an astounding 77 percent (23-of-30) from the field.
"We didn’t force it," Wallace said. "We had good, wide open shots and we were patient."
That wasn’t the case in the first half, when the teams traded baskets and turnovers at a frantic pace. The Rainbows committed 10 of their 16 turnovers in the first half, which ended in a 44-44 tie.
"We tried to run too much; we got into their game," Wallace said. "We were going to run ourselves right out of it."
What’s more, leading scorer Savovic was called for two fouls, his third and fourth of the game, within the first three minutes of the second half. In his absence, McIntyre and Puida combined to score 11 points during a 22-11 surge that put UH ahead, 66-55, with 13 minutes remaining.
The Horned Frogs got as close as 68-64, but McIntyre scored six during a 17-2 Rainbow run that all but put the game away at 85-66. TCU never got closer than 13 in the game’s final six minutes.
"We wanted to do to them what they did to us at their place," Ostler said. "That gave us a lot of energy."
As proof, Ostler slam-dunked his final two points of the game that put the Rainbows at 100. Fellow senior Todd Fields came off the bench, and scored on a layup at the buzzer for the final margin. The fourth senior, Lane O’Connor, contributed two points and a rebound.
In a post-game ceremony, all four took a final shot, and then were draped with lei from their families and fans.
"There’s not even words to explain it," Ostler said. "I’ll never forget this the rest of my life."
Ryan Carroll led TCU with 21 points, while Derrick Davenport added 20. Davenport, a 6-foot-10 center, was limited to six points in nine minutes during the first half, when he committed three fouls.
Hawai‘i will close its regular-season with games at San Jose State and Texas-El Paso next week.
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