Hawaii 86, Tulsa 85

Friday, February 22nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HONOLULU (AP) _ Mark Campbell hit a free throw with 2.9 seconds left to lift Hawaii to an 86-85 victory over Tulsa on Thursday night, giving the Rainbow Warriors the lead in the Western Athletic Conference standings.

Carl English scored 28 points and Predrag Savovic added 27 for Hawaii (22-4, 13-2 WAC). The Rainbow Warriors, who are off to their best start in 30 years, took a half game edge over the Golden Hurricane (22-5, 13-3) in the WAC.

Tulsa had the last possession, but Greg Harrington fumbled the ball at midcourt and could not get off a shot.

The loss snapped Tulsa's seven-game win streak. Its last loss was to Hawaii in Oklahoma. The Golden Hurricane came into the game with a half game lead over the Rainbow Warriors.

Antonio Reed, who came into the game averaging 10.6 points per game, had 24 points for Tulsa, including 19 in the second half.

Hawaii led for most of the second half, until Tulsa went on a 14-1 run with Reed scoring two 3-pointers to give the Golden Hurricane an 80-73 lead with 5:02 to go. The seven-point lead was Tulsa's largest.

But Hawaii answered with a 10-2 run with 3-pointers by Savovic, English and Mindaugas Burneika to take an 83-82 lead.

Campbell's free throw broke an 85-85 tie. He missed his second attempt. Campbell, who finished with three points, had been fouled by Kevin Johnson on a layup attempt.

Tulsa's Marqus Ledoux had 15 points while Johnson added 13 points and nine rebounds.

Haim Shimonovich had eight points to go with his 14 rebounds and five assists.

The teams traded baskets throughout the first half, which had 10 lead changes and seven ties. The Rainbow Warriors took a 41-38 lead at the break behind English's 12 points.

The rowdy crowd of 9,669 was Hawaii's first sellout in four years.