Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State-Hawai`i Preview
3/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2001
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - After a less than impressive showing in its Western Athletic Conference quarterfinal victory over Rice on Thursday, Fresno State looks to turn things around against Hawaii in Friday's semifinal.
The 25th-ranked and top-seeded Bulldogs (25-5) and WAC player of the year Melvin Ely are coming off a poor performance in their 60-52 win over the Owls.
Ely took only three shots and scored six points, which is 10 below his average, but Fresno still got the victory, and that's all that matters to their coach.
"The nice part about it is, it's a win," Jerry Tarkanian said. "It might not be beautiful, but it goes in the left-hand column."
Ely's inability to make himself a factor on the offensive end is something that happens when teams double- and triple-team him. However, Demetrius Porter picked up the slack, scoring a season-high 21 points to keep Fresno alive.
"When I go into games like this, I know I am going to get doubled," Ely said. "So I think of other ways to score and other ways to help my team out, like kicking the ball back out (to guys like Porter). I don't plan to do anything different but wait until my time to score."
Fresno State will have its hands full with Hawaii, a 99-79 winner over Texas Christian on Thursday.
The Bulldogs split their two meetings with the Rainbow Warriors (15-13) this season, losing the opener 91-73 at Hawaii on Feb. 1. However, they bounced back with an 86-63 victory at home on Feb. 11.
Fifth-seeded Hawaii, which is trying to win its first league tournament since capturing its only WAC tournament in 1994, got another solid performance from shooting guard Predag Savovic in its quarterfinal victory.
Savovic scored 24 points and hit five of the Warriors' season-high 13 3-pointers in the victory.
Hawaii also recorded a WAC single-game tournament record for assists with 26.
Despite the team's inability to gain a league title for the past seven seasons, Hawaii junior guard Mike McIntyre says the team is confident it will show up against Fresno State.
"We know what to expect," McIntyre said. "Our concentration level has to be there. We are as confident as we've been all season."
