Coach Collapses; Game Postponed : College basketball: Hawaii’s Wallace in good condition after being felled during WAC tournament game against Utah.

Hawaii Coach Riley Wallace was rushed to a hospital Thursday night after he collapsed early in the Rainbows’ game against Utah in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

Wallace, 50, was reported in good condition after tests at Poudre Valley Hospital but was held overnight for observation.

“He’s conscious, he’s alert, he’s oriented,” hospital spokesman Mike Vogl said. “His examination so far has been normal.”

Vogl said results of a CAT scan, which is an X-ray of the skull, were normal.

“There is no indication that there is bleeding, no evidence at all,” Vogl said.

“He doesn’t appear to be in a life-threatening situation, but it (the diagnosis) is very preliminary. We simply don’t know what happened to him,” Vogl said.

A CAT scan produces a computerized cross-sectional picture of the brain, Vogl said. “It shows us if there is any bleeding or other abnormality.”

Burt Evans, Colorado State’s team physician, was the first doctor to reach Wallace. He said the coach might have suffered a burst blood vessel in his head.

“Coach Riley stood up and yelled” just before he collapsed, Evans said, adding that Wallace was alert but in pain while doctors tended him at courtside.

Evans said one symptom of a burst blood vessel is the “sudden onset of excruciating pain that doesn’t go away.”

The game was postponed until this morning, when it was to be picked up with Utah leading, 4-0, with 18:15 left in the first half.

Utah Coach Rick Majerus offered to forfeit the game, saying: “What for? So one of us can win another game? There is nothing more precious than life.”

WAC Commissioner Joe Kearney said the winner of the Utah-Hawaii game would play a second game tonight to keep the tournament on schedule.