It’s been a long time since the University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s basketball team upset a ranked opponent. The last time was during the 1998-99 season, under former coach Jeff Law, when the Vulcans stunned No. 7 Mid Western
It’s been a long time since the University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s basketball team upset a ranked opponent. The last time was during the 1998-99 season, under former coach Jeff Law, when the Vulcans stunned No. 7 Mid Western State.
UH-Hilo gave the best Christmas gift in coach GE Coleman’s two-year tenure with an 82-79 victory over No. 15 BYU-Hawaii in a Pacific West Conference game on Saturday night, but it wasn’t easy because two opponents needed to be defeated.
The Vulcans not only prevailed over the much taller Seasiders, and overcame a 10-point halftime deficit, but also battled team chemistry issues in the first half on what was designated as health-care professional night.
Anyone who works in the profession was given free admission. But there were only 177 fans, in part because the women’s game started at 4 p.m. and finished at 5:49 p.m. and the men’s had a late start at 7:30 p.m.
Tre Johnson hit the game-winning basket with under 2 second left and scored a game-high 28 points on 9 of 13 shooting, including 10 of 14 free throws, to lead UHH (5-5, 1-3 PacWest), which snapped a three-game slide.
Yevgenny Dyachenko came off the bench and added 18 points, hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers, and Darnell Williams had 13 points on 6 of 13 shooting for the Vuls, who found a way to finish a game — a bad habit Coleman has previously lamented.
Daniel Berger scored 18 points and Luke Ashton came off the bench and added 15 points for BYUH, which will shut down its athletic program after the 2016-17 season to fund educational opportunities.
The game not only had an entertaining conclusion, but also was something of a character unveiling about the Vuls for the small crowd.
Williams, a senior guard from Hilltop, Wash., wears No. 0 for his uniform number, and is a firecracker in production and personality.
The 5-foot-10 Williams is deadly quick off the dribble, can splash floaters with grace, but doesn’t have Johnson’s calm demeanor.
After Aston nailed a 3-ball to give BYUH a 48-38 halftime lead, Williams walked toward UH-Hilo’s bench, said something in frustration and raised and untucked his shirt. He stormed off to the locker room 20 feet and 3/4 inches, the length of the 3-point arc, ahead of his teammates.
Most of the Vuls followed him while a few others and the coaching staff went in the other direction to the locker room.
Johnson doesn’t seem to get rattled, even when opponents apply King Kong-type hacks on him for hard fouls. Whenever he stops playing ball, he would do well in the gentlemen’s game of golf or the patient lifestyle of fishing.
In the second half, both had big-time contributions.
The Vuls trailed 78-77 after Ashton buried a 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining. Then Williams blazed past his defender and dropped in a baseline floater.
After BYUH tied it 79-79 on a free throw, Williams had his shot blocked out bounds. There was 2 seconds on the clock, and he inbounded the ball under the basket. Williams lobbed a perfect ball to Johnson, who in one motion, caught and shot it with his right hand.
Johnson swished the 3-foot shot, got fouled and converted the free throw for an 82-79 lead with 1.4 seconds to go. The Seasiders missed by a wide margin on a last-second, half-court shot.
