'Bows capture WAC title, NCAA Tournament bid
| • | Savovic used his savvy to earn MVP honors |
| • | What did you think of the game? Join our discussion |
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
TULSA, Okla. — The best just keeps getting better.
David Crenshaw • Special to The Advertiser
The greatest team in University of Hawai'i men's basketball history proved its worth once again with a 73-59 victory over Tulsa in the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament last night.
From left: Phil Martin, Carl English, Tony Akpan and Haim Shimonovich celebrate Hawai'is second consecutive WAC title.
"It doesn't matter who plays, who scores the points, we're one team," said senior tri-captain Mindaugas Burneika. "And now we're the champs, and we're going to the Dance, baby!"
Indeed, the Rainbow Warriors received the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament — the "Big Dance" — with last night's victory. Hawai'i, which also beat Tulsa in last year's WAC championship game, will be going to the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years for the first time in school history.
It will also be just the fourth time that the 'Bows will appear in the NCAA Tournament. They will find out their seeding and first-round opponent today.
"Our goal all along was to get a bid and advance in the NCAA," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "Because Hawai'i has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament."
Then again, Hawai'i has never had a team like this. With last night's victory, the 'Bows improved to 27-5, already the winningest team in school history.
They undoubtedly know how to dance.
They proved it this week by waltzing through the WAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time in its 19-year history. Hawai'i defeated three opponents in three days of the tournament by double-digit margins, becoming the first team in WAC Tournament history to do that.
And for the third time over the last two seasons, the 'Bows sent a sellout crowd (8,355) at the Donald W. Reynolds Center home disappointed. In between the two WAC Tournament championship victories over Tulsa, Hawai'i also won a regular-season showdown at Tulsa earlier this season.
The 'Bows are now the only visiting team to own three victories in the Reynolds Center. Against everybody else besides Hawai'i, Tulsa is 46-4 in the Reynolds Center.
"Sometimes you have people's number," Wallace said of UH's four consecutive victories over Tulsa, including a 3-0 sweep this season. "That just happens."
David Crenshaw • Special to The Advertiser
As was the case all season long, the 'Bows took turns in the spotlight last night.
Carl English and Predrag Savovic celebrate Hawai‘is second straight WAC Tournament title.
There was, of course, Predrag Savovic. The 6-foot-6 senior guard scored 28 points and grabbed six rebounds, and was named the Tournament MVP.
When his normally efficient 3-point shooting went awry — he was 3-of-11 from 3-point range — Savovic went to the low-post to manufacture points.
"My game is a part of the team," said Savovic, who scored 74 points in UH's three tournament games. "Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down. Tonight, it was not up from 3-point line, so we started playing inside."
Sophomore Phil Martin, celebrating his 22nd birthday yesterday, recorded 13 points and nine rebounds, and was named to the All-Tournament team along with Savovic.
"Just like last year, I made my birthday wish and never told anybody what it was until after we won," Martin said. "And we got the championship again."
Martin, a 6-8 forward, was also a terror on defense, alternating assignments between Tulsa forward Kevin Johnson and point guard Greg Harrington. Johnson is 6-7, 222 pounds; Harrington is 6-2, 193.
"Phil's got quick feet and quick hands and is smart as a defensive player," Wallace said. "He was able to play big-time defense on either the big-man inside, Johnson, or (Harrington)."
Johnson was limited to four points and six rebounds; Harrington got 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. Both were named to the All-Tournament team.
Among the other key 'Bows, Burneika came off the bench to score 12 points, while Carl English — who has a habit of playing some of his best games against Tulsa — had 11 points and a game-high10 rebounds. Center Haim Shimonovich contributed six points, seven rebounds and six assists.
"Hawai'i, you gotta give them credit," Tulsa head coach John Phillips said. "They played great defense tonight."
As proof, the Golden Hurricane established season-lows with 59 points and a .339 field goal percentage (21-of-62).
This game, however, was not Hawai'i's from start to finish.
A 9-0 surge by Tulsa midway through the first half broke a 13-13 tie, and gave the Hurricane a 22-13 lead with 10:01 remaining.
"Savo was quick-shooting on us and we made a bad run there," Wallace said.
Moments later, the Tulsa lead was 25-16, but Hawai'i closed the half with a 13-4 surge to tie it at 29-29 at halftime, "which was very good for us," Wallace said.
The 'Bows rode the momentum into the second half by opening with an 8-0 run for a 37-29 lead it would never relinquish. The lead got as high as 16 (49-33) and as low as three (56-53).
In an effort to rally with shooters, Tulsa put four guards together on the court for most of the second half.
"We tried some different combinations," Phillips said. "Finally, the one with the little guards out there was what got us back in the ball game, but they became so fatigued that they couldn't rebound."
In the crucial second half, Hawai'i out-rebounded Tulsa 27-16. Overall, the 'Bows had 44 rebounds to Tulsa's 39.
"We're not a good rebounding team and they are," Wallace said. "And we out-rebounded them. That was a big difference as well."
But the 'Bows also did it with a patient offense. Like Savovic, the rest of the team struggled uncharacteristically from 3-point range.
Hawai'i shot just 39 percent (25-of-65) overall, and 17 percent (3-of-18) from 3-point range. Because of that, Wallace installed a "10-second rule" for his offense in the second half.
"We just tried to screw it down a little tighter," he said. "Where you don't look to shoot unless you get a layup or 10 seconds has come off (the clock)."
As a result, the taller 'Bows got no 3-pointers in the second half, but 13 of their 15 baskets came from within 12 feet against the makeshift four-guard lineup of the Hurricane.
After Tulsa cut the deficit to 56-53 with 4:29 remaining, Hawai'i responded with a 10-2 run to put the game away at 66-55 with 1:58 left.
"We came with a little lineup hoping to scramble," said Tulsa guard Jason Parker, who came off the bench to score 18 points. "We got it down to three, and unfortunately, we gave up a couple of layups and weren't able to focus (defensively)."
Antonio Reed also scored 18 for Tulsa, which finished with a 26-6 record, and is expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"It was a frustrating game for us," Phillips said. "I think we did get frustrated and I think we did panic."
Even with four guards on the court, Tulsa committed eight of its 13 turnovers in the second half. In contrast, UH committed six turnovers the entire game.
After the 'Bows made 8 of 10 free throws in the final minute to clinch the title, they each took turns cutting down the nets.
"Last year, nobody expected us to do it," Burneika said. "This year, everybody expected us to do it. Either way, it feels great. Twice in a row, you gotta love it."
• • •
