Basketball: UH holds off Vulcans

HONOLULU — Well, that wasn’t too bad from a UH-Hilo standpoint.

Eddie Stansberry hit 5 of 10 from 3-point range and finished with 19 points, Drew Buggs had 16 points and seven assists, and Hawaii beat the Vulcans 82-75 on Saturday night.

Zigmars Raimo scored 13 on 6-of-8 shooting, Brocke Stepteau added 11 points and Jack Purchase had 10 and nine rebounds for Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors (5-4) snapped a three-game skid.

Kupaa Harrison led the way in what was an exhibition for the Vulcans with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Larry Bush added 20 points and Jalen Thompson scored 16.

“Offensively, we played really well,” Vulcans coach GE Coleman said in a release. “Our pressure on defense gave them some problems, but they adjusted well in the second half with shooters on the corners that didn’t miss much. Coming into the game, we struggled on the boards, but we really made good progress with that tonight.”

Purchase hit a 3-pointer that made it 12-11 and Hawaii led the rest of the way.

Thompson hit a 3 to trim Hawaii Hilo’s deficit to 37-31 at the break and the Vulcans twice pulled within two points in the second half — the second coming when Harrison scored five in a row to make it 52-50 with 13 minutes left.

Stansberry hit two 3-pointers in an 11-2 run over the next two-plus minutes to push the lead into double figures and Hawaii Hilo trailed by at least six the rest of the way.

The teams met for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, and though UH has won all seven, its average margin of victory entering Saturday was 25.0 points.