Box Score

TULSA, Okla. - Hawai'i's three-year dominance in the Williams Western Athletic Conference Tournament came to an abrupt end after a 66-56 loss to Tulsa, in the featured semifinal game, Friday night, at the Donald Reynolds Center. The Rainbow Warriors' bid for a third straight championship ended despite guard Carl English's career-tying 33-point effort.

UH also had its seven-game WAC Tournament win streak snapped by a Tulsa team who had lost two previous championship games to the 'Bows. Hawai'i (18-11) will now await word on whether they will participate in the National Invitation Tournament, beginning next week.

English, a first team all-WAC selection, finished 13-of-22 from the field, including 6-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc. Of English's 33 points, 27 came in the second half, due to early foul trouble in the first period. Forward Phil Martin added 13 points, his 10th straight game scoring in double figures. The two accounted for 46 of the team's 56 total, including 32-of-39 in the second half.

"They've been doing it every night for us," head coach Riley Wallace said of his two Canadians. "Carl's a winner and has a lot of heart. He's going to do everything he could do for us to win. And Phil's the most consistent player on this team the last month."

The 'Bows trailed 27-17 at the half despite shooting 25.8 percent from the floor. The Golden Hurricane were equally as bad, converting on only 24 percent of its shots, but used an 8-0 run over the last five minutes of the period to take the double digit lead.

UH closed the gap in the second half to four, after a 10-4 run through the first four minutes. Consecutive lay-ups by Tulsa's Jason Parker and Kevin Johnson pushed the lead back to 12 with 12:15 remaining. Over the next 6:15, the 'Bows would mount one last comeback. Back to back buckets by English and Mark Campbell closed the deficit once again to four with 6:00 remaining.

But the Hurricane proved too much scoring at will in the paint or at the free throw line. Tulsa's 12-3 run down the stretch gave them a 13 point lead with 2:00 remaining.

In all, the Hurricane converted 30-of-33 attempts from the free throw line compared to 4-of-9 for Hawai'i. The 'Bows shot 48.4 percent in the second half, helped by English's 10-of-14 shooting in the period.

"It was too much Johnson tonight," Wallace said. "He's a heck of a player. He scored 15 in the second half and it was too much for us to handle."

Johnson finished with a team-high 20 points. The Hurricane advance to the championship game for the fourth consecutive year and will face Nevada.



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