Dec 1, 2001

By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Iowa's Ryan Hogan had been feeling good anyway. When he saw Southern Methodist playing a zone defense, he felt even better.

"My eyes kind of lighted up," said Hogan, who promptly ignited his team.

Hogan came off the bench to hit five 3-pointers and help No. 7 Iowa beat Southern Methodist 86-69 Saturday night to win the Hawkeye Challenge. He finished with a career-high 16 points and shared the tournament's MVP with teammate Reggie Evans.

"I've been feeling really good the past month in practice," said Hogan, who was averaging just 4.7 points. "I really got my legs underneath me. I'm healthy. I had a lot of confidence coming into this game. That helped me a lot."

Luke Recker hit six 3-pointers and led Iowa with 22 points. Evans had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (6-2), who closed the first half with a 21-6 run and responded with a 12-0 run when SMU (3-3) cut the lead to six in the second half.

Iowa finished 13-of-26 from behind the arc and kept hitting them even when SMU changed defenses, much to the frustration of Mustangs coach Mike Dement.

"We tried the zone to neutralize Evans and they hit the 3s," Dement said. "We tried man and they still hit the 3s. If they shoot like that and have the balance inside, they could beat anybody."

Quinton Ross led SMU with 24 points and Damon Hancock scored 14.

Hancock's 3-pointer left SMU trailing 26-24 with 6:37 left in the first half, but the Mustangs went more than three minutes before scoring again and Iowa began pulling away en route to a 47-30 halftime lead.

The Hawkeyes' defense set the tone during their run. Recker, Pierre Pierce and Chauncey Leslie all scored after steals, while Recker and Brody Boyd each hit a 3-pointer.

"We had so many turnovers," said Dement, whose team finished with 22. "I think they got about 29 points off our turnovers."

Another Recker 3 stretched Iowa's lead to 52-33 early in the second half. SMU came back with 13 straight points, including 3-pointers by Ross and Kris Lowe - to close to 52-46 with 15:27 left.

It would get no closer.

Hogan hit two 3-pointers as Iowa ran off the next 12 points to open a 64-46 lead. Boyd's 3-pointer and Hogan's free throw put Iowa ahead 73-52 with 9:08 remaining and SMU never got closer than 12 after that.

"We had some lapses," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "I didn't particularly like our second half defense. But for 40 minutes, we did some pretty good things."

Hogan, who has had three knee operations during his career, went 5-for-8 on 3-pointers. His previous best had been 15 points last season.

"I just thought he was terrific," Alford said. "The last four games Hogan has been good and consistent and he was very good tonight. I think he loosened everyone else up."

Iowa, which started slowly in a 73-64 win over Alabama State on Friday night, scored the first seven points against SMU. Pierce, who had 12 points, hit a long jumper 17 seconds into the game, Recker nailed a 3 and Evans dunked.

SMU came back to lead by as many as four, but Iowa never trailed again after Recker hit a jumper midway through the half to break a 19-19 tie.

"We knew we had no choice," Evans said. "Alabama State was a very good team and that came was a wakeup call for us. We knew we had to put it on SMU from the very first jump."