Tennessee Wins Rainbow Classic, Defeats Hawai'i 69-58

Saturday, December 30

Honolulu, Hawai'i

TBA

University of Tennessee

13-1

Hawai'i

6-5

Tennessee

Hawaii

December 30, 2000 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Tennessee prevailed in a hard-fought contest to post a 69-58 victory over Hawaii in the championship game of the Rainbow Classic.

Ron Slay scored 16 points to lead Tennessee, and Vincent Yarbrough added 15. Tony Harris continued his stellar play with 11 points and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

"It was a good trip," head coach Jerry Green said. "I'm glad our kids had a good time, and I would have said that if we'd lost, too. Our kids had a great experience."

The championship game was close all the way with neither side holding more than a six-point lead until the final minutes.

Tennessee managed to open a five-point lead, 51-46, with 8:36 left, but Hawaii battled back and cut the lead to 53-52. Then, Isiah Victor stole a pass and raced for an uncontested dunk to put the Vols up 55-52.

Hawaii cut the deficit to 57-55 on a three-pointer by Predrag Savovic with 3:25 remaining but never got any closer than that. Vincent Yarbrough got the Volunteers started on their final run with a basket and free throw with 3:16 remaining to make it 60-55. Tennessee made 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to secure the win.

Tennessee went on a 9-0 streak late in the first half to take a 36-31 lead. However, Hawaii responded by scoring five unanswered points to make it 36-36 at halftime.

"The whole story," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said, "was we had too little left to finish against a very powerful basketball team that has 10 players who can play for almost anybody in the country."

Notes: Rainbow Classis MVP: Tony Harris...All-Tournament Team: Tony Harris (Tennessee); Ron Slay (Tennessee); Predrag Savovic (Hawaii); Mindaugas Burneika (Hawaii); Dean Oliver (Iowa); Maurice Jeffers (Saint Louis)...Tennessee won its first in-season tournament title since the 1988 season when it won the Vol Classic...it was UT's first rainbow Classis title in six appearances...UT won three games in three nights...The Vols caught a red-eye flight out of Honolulu roughly two hours after the game was over.