Tulsa beats BYU-Hawai'i for Yahoo! championship

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

They won before the game even began.

•	Yahoo! Sports Invitational • Championship Tulsa 88, BYU-Hawai'i 67 • Third Place New Mexico St. 79, Montana 67 • Fifth Place Valparaiso 87, Buffalo 80 • Seventh Place Columbia 74, Navy 72, OT • All-tournament team Dante Swanson (Tulsa) Most Valuable Player Eric Channing (New Mexico State) Alexus Foyle (Brigham Young-Hawai'i) Antonio Reed (Tulsa) Scott Salisbury (BYUH) Yuta Tabuse (BYUH)

And though they were mismatched against a more experienced, more physical Tulsa team, the Seasiders never doubted they had a chance at winning.

That confidence kept BYUH in the game. But Tulsa's higher caliber of play made all the difference, as the Golden Hurricane won the tournament title, 88-67, at the Cannon Activities Center in front of 399 fans.

It was Tulsa's seventh consecutive win this season, the 16th in-season tournament title for the program.

The Seasiders (9-4) did not come out intimidated, with forward Alexus Foyle scoring the first bucket in less than 15 seconds. But the Golden Hurricane (9-1) answered back, sinking three 3-pointers in just four-and-a-half minutes.

Tulsa was in a 3-point groove, hitting 10-of-19 (6-of-10 in the first half). Five Tulsa players sank at least one trey.

"We're kind of an inside-outside team," said Tulsa head coach John Phillips. "Their defense forced us to shoot outside, so we did."

BYUH kept it close the first 15 minutes of the first half, controlling the tempo and being aggressive on defense. But turnovers and missed shots hurt the Seasiders, who went from being within three points to entering the locker room down, 42-33.

"We gave up a few runs and their tempo was too quick," said BYUH head coach Ken Wagner. "They were scoring too quickly. And in the second half, they just took it to us."

Indeed. Tulsa lived up to its nickname, scoring sets of unanswered points that extended its lead to as much as 24 points in the second half. BYUH couldn't stop Tulsa guard Dante Swanson, who had a game-high 25 points and hit 9-of-9 from the field, 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Turnovers continued to plague BYUH, which had 20, compared with Tulsa's 11.

"Tulsa's the kind of team you give them an inch, they're all over you," said BYUH center Scott Salisbury, who posted 10 points and 12 rebounds. "One turnover, one missed shot, and it spreads out the point deficit. The little things were too much."

BYUH failed to convert on key turnovers and make open shots in the second half, further frustrating a team that believed it could compete at Tulsa's level of play.

"In the first five minutes of the game I was like, 'Yeah, we could take them on,' " said Foyle, who had a team-high 18 points on 50 percent shooting. (Before Tulsa, Foyle was averaging 21.5 points per game in the tournament.) "But we've never seen them shoot like that, and we had to pay for it."

The Seasiders failed at a last-ditch attempt to catch up late in the second half. Down 70-46, the Seasiders went on a 9-0 run, punctuated with a dunk by Foyle with 7:41 left that got the fans to their feet. Led by crowd-favorite Yuta Tabuse, the BYUH offense picked up some momentum, which was quickly suppressed by turnovers and fouls that led to easy points for Tulsa.

"I think (BYUH's) strength is the running game," Phillips said. "They've got one of the best point guards in the country and they've got players who enjoy to run. We do, too, and that's what type of game it was tonight."

But despite the loss, the Seasiders know just competing for the tournament title was a win in itself. And to give last year's National Invitation Tournament champions a scare was gravy.

"We got to this point and we didn't expect to lose," Salisbury said. "We didn't come out thinking we were going to be second. But we have nothing to hang our heads about."

Tulsa (9-1)

Swanson 9-9 4-5 25, Reed 3-13 0-0 9, Harrington 5-8 0-0 12, Davis 5-7 2-4 12, Johnson 2-8 4-4 8, Martins 0-0 0-0 0, Glenn 2-4 0-0 5, Blankenship 0-0 1-2 1, Parker 5-10 1-2 12, Ledoux 0-3 0-0 0, Ingram 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 33-66 12-17 88.

BYU-Hawai'i (9-4)

Tabuse 3-6 2-2 9, Foyle 8-16 2-4 18, Gardner 0-1 0-0 0, Naihe 5-8 2-2 13, Salisbury 4-7 2-2 10, Frampton 0-1 0-0 0, Jensen 1-5 0-0 3, Nobmann 0-0 0-0 0, Bowden 0-1 0-0 0, Skinner 2-3 0-0 6, Broadnax 1-1 1-2 3, Broering 2-7 1-2 5. Totals 26-56 10-14 67.

Halftime—Tulsa 42, BYU-Hawai'i 33. 3-Point goals—Tulsa 10-19 (Swanson 3-3, Reed 3-7, Harrington 2-3, Glenn 1-2, Parker 1-3, Ingram 0-1), BYU-Hawai'i 5-17 (Tabuse 1-4, Naihe 1-3, Frampton 0-1, Jensen 1-4, Bowden 0-1, Skinner 2-3, Broering 0-1). Fouled out—Foyle. Rebounds—Tulsa 32 (Ingram 6), BYU-Hawai'i 34 (Salisbury 12). Assists—Tulsa 22 (Reed 8), BYU-Hawai'i 22 (Salisbury 7). Total fouls—Tulsa 13, BYU-Hawai'i 13. A—399.