Hawaii tried to use the Marriott Center for its long-awaited coming-out fest, but the Cougars spoiled the party.
BYU (13-5 overall, 6-1 WAC), which had trailed for the final eight minutes of the second half, tied the game on two free throws and then shot a perfect 9-for-9 from the line in overtime to pull out an 84-80 victory over Hawaii (5-10, 1-6).The 'Bows have been looking for a breakthrough game after a half-season of hard luck and chemistry problems, and for a long time this looked like it.
"I thought the real Hawaii team . . . showed up tonight," said BYU coach Roger Reid.
"That's the team I expected to play that way all year long," said Hawaii coach Riley Wallace.
The only flaw in the Rainbows' plan was not taking care of the Cougars in regulation. When Russell Larson's free throws tied the game and Hawaii guard Trevor Ruffin's long three missed, sending the game into overtime, the 'Bows seemed to deflate a tad.
With the score tied 77-all in overtime, Kevin Nixon nailed a three-pointer with 1:18 left. Hawaii's Fabio Ribeiro made one of two free throws on the other end, and BYU rebounded. With 23 seconds left, Nick Sanderson was fouled and made both free throws, and Kurt Christensen made another pair of foul shots 10 seconds later to put the Cougs up by six. A tip by Ribeiro closed the scoring.
In a game with lots of sub-plots, Christensen's may be the best. The junior guard has sat on the bench most of the season while Randy Reid and Ryan Cuff serve their freshman apprenticeship, but tonight Christensen got thrown in with four minutes in regulation and his team down by five, and he was told to guard Ruffin, who to that point had scored a mere 29 points.
"Randy got tired defensively," coach Reid said. "Kurt came in and did a nice job on Ruffin."
Christensen did a nice all-around job for the rest of the game - nine minutes during which he scored four points, grabbed three rebounds and held Ruffin to one field goal.
Other sub-plots involve Larson and Nixon. Larson had seemed off his game ever since the Maui tournament, but against Hawaii he made 8 of 9 shots and scored 24 points, his season high. He left the game in the second half with a bloody nose and returned a few minutes later, wearing a bandage. He scored eight points in the final seven minutes, including the pressure free throws with 17 seconds left that sent it into overtime.
And Nixon continues to show why this is a different team when he is healthy. He made 7 of 14 field goals (including four three-pointers) and 9 of 9 free throws in leading the team with 27 points.
Another interesting angle to this game is the second straight disappearance by Gary Trost. The All-WAC center made one of five field-goal attempts, scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds - in 40 minutes. That follows Thursday night's game in which he shot twice and totaled 9 points.
Trost may have been bothered by 7-foot Gerry Holmes, who had played all of 35 minutes previously this season. It's a ploy that opposing coaches regularly fall back on against BYU - trotting out seldom-used big guys to bump bodies with BYU's big guys. It may even start a recruiting trend in the WAC, as coaches scour the sticks for slow, large types who will play only against BYU.
Wallace, for one, thought the use of Holmes was a masterstroke. "The whole difference in the game for us was Gerry Holmes," he said. "He made them change their shots."
Getting back to the main plot, though, the Cougs were fortunate to win a game in which Hawaii had all the momentum at just the right time. BYU appeared to have the game well in hand early in the second half, going on an 11-2 run to go up 46-35. But the pesky 'Bows hung in there, largely on the shooting of Ruffin, a transfer who averaged 30 points at Arizona Western JC last year. Ruffin's shooting efforts even earned him applause from many in the crowd of 20,000-plus when he fouled out in OT, enough applause to drown out the obligatory - and tiresome - rendition of "Na Na, Hey Hey" from the student section.
"We were lucky to win," coach Reid said. "It's nice when you don't play as well to win."
The thing that bothered Reid about this game was his offense. "We have to a better job of executing on offense," he said. "I can't wait to get to practice."
Here's betting his players can hardly wait, too.
Besides Nixon and Larson, Nick Sanderson was the only other Cougar in double figures, with 18. He had an off shooting night, however, making 5 of 13 from the field.
The Cougars now go on the road for games against Colorado State on Thursday night and Wyoming on Saturday afternoon.