UH-Hilo men’s basketball team got it done defensively, and not just in terms of steals and turnovers.
Those came in bunches Friday as the Vulcans beat Saint Martin’s 77-70 at the D2 Hoops in Hawaii Power Invitational at Honolulu’s Hawaii Convention Center, getting 21 points from Elisha Duplechan.
“We had a goal of not giving up many 3-pointers, and we kept them to 1 of 13,” UHH coach GE Coleman said.
Duplechan, a 5-foot-11 junior transfer from Division I Nebraska-Omaha, won’t shoot 8 of 11 from the field, including 3-of-3 on 3-pointers, every game, but “this is what he’s capable of,” Coleman said.
He also had six of 14 steals for UHH (3-4), which forced 22 turnovers in stopping a three-game losing streak.
Kupaa Harrison and Sasa Vuksanovic added 15 epoints and Damani Whitlock had 12. Vuksanovic and Harrison both had double-doubles. The 6-foot-9 Serbian had 14 rebounds and Oahu-native Harrison grabbed 10.
“We showed that we could hang tough after a road trip and beat a team at at a neutral site that was 2-0 in (Great Northwest Athletic Conference),” Coleman said.
They also showed they can hang even after Duplechan and Jordan Graves fouled out.
The Saints (4-6), who were led by Demonte Malloy’s 23 points, reached the West Region title game a year ago.
The Vuls take on Alaska-Anchorage at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Saints scored the first two points of the game, but the Vulcans quickly countered with a Vuksanovic basket in the lane and two free throws by Harrison to take a lead that they would never give up. Crisp passing would lead to six of eight shooting to begin the game and a 15-6 lead just four minutes into the contest.
Coming out of the media timeout, SMU went on a 6-0 run, but the Vulcans answered with back-to-back scores by Duplechan. The Saints had two possessions with a chance to take a lead, but couldn’t, and Duplechan added another basket and Kaleb Gilmore hit a three-pointer to give UHH a 41-35 lead at the break.
Duplechan had 16 points at intermission, and the Saints were high in turnovers (14) and low in three-pointers made (none).
By the first media timeout of the second half, Whitlock had hit a trey and Harrison had converted a three-point play to push UHH’s lead to 47-36. Just past 12 minutes left, a Duplechan three-ball made it 59-44.
The Vulcans continued to pull away, forcing SMU into turnovers and poor shooting. A Whitlock basket pushed the margin to 16 points (64-48), and with just under four minutes remaining, Vuksanovic did the same (68-52).