Yield to Hield and the Oklahoma Sooners.
Behind a career-high 34 points from tournament MVP Buddy Hield, No. 3 Oklahoma won the 2015 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic title with an 83-71 defeat of Harvard on Christmas at the Stan Sheriff Center.
| ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP: Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Roderick Bobbitt, Hawaii
Kareem Canty, Auburn
Zena Edosomwan, Harvard
Chase Fischer, BYU |
The senior guard Hield, an All-America candidate, looked thoroughly comfortable on the Stan Sheriff Center court this week. He shot 11-for-14 from the field Friday and scored a record 86 points for the tournament, surpassing Klay Thompson’s 79 points in 2010.
About 2,000 people looked on as OU matched Arizona in 2012 as the highest-ranked team to play in and win the DHC.
“I love Hawaii. I’m used to the islands, man,” said the senior guard Hield, a native of the Bahamas. “The people are nice. I’ve felt so welcome. When I make some money I’m (going) to be here for vacation. It’s a good place to be at.”
The entire Oklahoma (11-0) team is no stranger to Honolulu. The Sooners beat Villanova in the Pearl Harbor Invitational on Dec. 7, went back to Norman, Okla., then came back out to the islands for this tournament. But their legs were clearly fresh.
Guard Jordan Woodard added 28 points on 9-for-13 shooting as OU shot 50 percent from the field.
Hield, who scored 27 in a three-point semifinal win over host Hawaii on Wednesday, needed to rise to the occasion again against the Crimson, who led 37-35 at halftime.
OU went on a 17-0 run to open the second half, whipping the few hundred Sooners faithful in the stands into a frenzy.
They now look ahead to Big 12 Conference play after the New Year.
“We needed more activity,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. “Their low post guy, Big E (Zena Edosomwan) catching it down there that deep like he did in the first half, I thought we did a good job on him for the first seven or eight minutes. When they did get it down to him, they started chipping away and coming back.”
Edosomwan scored 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. His bucket cut it to 70-65 with 4:28 to play, but Hield countered with a three-point play and Oklahoma maintained a seven-point lead the rest of the way.
Harvard (5-7) of the Ivy League proved itself up to its reputation as a stout defensive team, but the Sooners’ firepower proved overwhelming.
“They’re explosive and I think they displayed that in that stretch there, which was critical and it really knocked us back,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “Obviously we cut the lead down to five, I think it was, and had our opportunities to kind of grind away at it a little more, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
