WAC TOURNAMENT : BYU Gets Past Hawaii in Overtime

A soft shot from a guy who has six screws and a plate in his healing right hand dropped through the net as the buzzer sounded in overtime Friday night to propel Brigham Young into its first Western Athletic Conference tournament championship game.

Scott Moon, a senior guard who broke his right--shooting--hand two weeks ago when it collided with BYU center Shawn Bradley’s face during a practice, rebounded Mark Heslop’s missed three-pointer in the lane and lofted an off-balance shot from the right side of the basket with two seconds left.

The ball bounced on the rim four times before finally falling into the basket to give BYU a dramatic 73-71 victory over Hawaii in front of 10,269 in Wyoming’s Arena Auditorium.

Second-seeded BYU (19-12) will play Utah (28-2), which defeated Wyoming Friday night, 69-63, at 5 p.m. PST today for an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament.

“He takes a lot of flingers during the year,” BYU Coach Roger Reid said of Moon. “I’ve told him to square up, but he could shoot that one any way he wanted to.”

It was a tense game that had more twists and turns than an old B movie. Sixth-seeded Hawaii (16-13) led, 63-60, when Heslop’s three-pointer with 22 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime.

The Rainbows, playing much of the overtime without fouled-out starters Mike Gilless and Chris Walz, pulled even with BYU in overtime when Ray Reed made two free throws with 43 seconds left to make it 71-71.

Hawaii blew its chances, though, in a total of 15 seconds during the minute before Reed’s free throws. The Rainbows led, 69-67, when they had trouble with BYU’s press and were called for a 10-second backcourt violation. On their next possession, again bothered by BYU’s pressure defense, senior guard Troy Bowe--who had the ball when the 10-second violation was called--was called for a five-second violation.

“Troy and I have been together for a long time, and he’s my coach on the floor,” Hawaii Coach Riley Wallace said of the 10-second violation. “Usually, he is very alert about that, but he didn’t get it across this time.”

Reed led Hawaii with 25 points. Gary Trost had 21 points and 12 rebounds for BYU.

In the other semifinal, host Wyoming missed three of four free throws in the final minute, and Utah made five of six as the Utes won for the 24th time in their past 25 games.