Fun in the Sun : UC Riverside Goes to Hawaii as a Replacement, Comes Back as a Champion

A week ago, Grand Canyon College handed the UC Riverside men’s basketball team its first loss of the season.

So, Iowa had no reason for concern when the No. 4 Hawkeyes met the Division II Highlanders for the championship of the Chaminade Christmas tournament Sunday night at Honolulu.

UC Riverside wasn’t even supposed to be in the tournament. It replaced New Mexico State, which skipped the tournament because of financial considerations. Riverside, which was scheduled to play Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii Loa this week, was an easy last-minute substitute.

UC Riverside (9-1) came to Hawaii for the fun of it and left with a 110-92 victory over Iowa (10-1).

The Highlanders are living the high life.

“I haven’t experienced a feeling like this, to beat a team like Iowa is unbelievable,” said senior point guard Chris Jackson, a former standout at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana. “It’s definitely a life-lasting memory.”

Coach John Masi told his players before the tournament that if they got to play Iowa, they should make the most of it.

“We looked at playing them two ways,” Masi said in a telephone interview. “It was a learning situation, or a no-lose situation. We just went out to play an aggressive, determined, positive game.”

UC Riverside, a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., had never met a Top 10 team. Upset victories, however, are not new to the Highlanders.

Last season, UC Riverside surprised No. 2-ranked St. Cloud State of Minnesota in the first round of the Division II playoffs. The Highlanders (25-8) were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.

“We felt coming in they had proven that they were a good team and we saw a lot of evidence,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis told the Associated Press after the loss. “They played very hard and it just shows that the talent level throughout the country is very good. You can’t overlook anyone.”

UC Riverside made 21 of 36 three-point attempts, an National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record for all divisions.

“We knew we could not go against their taller players on the inside,” said Jackson, who scored 12 points against Iowa.

“We made some outside shots right away and stayed with them. But we didn’t really think we could beat them until the last minute.”

This wasn’t the first shocking upset in the Chaminade tournament’s history.

In 1982, No. 1 Virginia and 7-foot 4-inch center Ralph Sampson were toppled by NAIA school Chaminade, 77-72, in one of the biggest upsets in recent college basketball history.

The next season, Chaminade beat No. 14 Louisville, 83-72, and in 1984, Chaminade upset Louisville again, 67-65.

Riverside carved its cornerstone of fame behind Maurice Pullum, who scored 33 points and Chris Caballos, who added 20.

“To think a month ago that we’d be in this position was inconceivable,” Masi said. “We didn’t feel we could beat Iowa. We didn’t sit around and say we were going to do it.”

But Caballos said the Highlanders weren’t intimidated by Iowa’s ranking. “We went out to just have fun,” he said.

And, indeed, they did.