That grinder’s mentality, the one UH-Hilo men’s basketball team would eventually call upon Monday night when the rough patches matched the weather outside, was in some ways instilled a day earlier, coach Kaniela Aiona said.
The first half was smooth. Not quite effortless, but the Vulcans were in moving in sync.
The second half was more of a slog. But the Vuls, playing from ahead, fought through it for an 84-73 victory against Point Loma in front of 403 fans at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, ending a four-game losing streak.
“Character win, the guys had to gut this one out,” Aiona said on the 670 AM postgame show. “It was a choppy game in the second half. First half was really free flowing, and out guys got to get up and down the floor, and our guys got to see the floor. It was good sew the ball go through the net. Shot the ball better than we have lately. That always helps.”
Aiona counted 12 missed layups Friday in a home loss to Concordia.
As a result, Sunday’s workout “wasn’t the lightest practice for our guys that you usually have before the game,” Aiona said.
“Sometimes you just have to grind through these moments, these stretches,” he said.
Freshman Max Kunnert enjoyed a breakout game with 16 points and six rebounds, and the 6-foot-4 guard made his mark early with two 3-pointers as the Vuls (5-4, 1-1 PacWest) raced to an 8-0 lead.
That advantage ballooned to as much as 16 in the first half – Ethan Jetter’s dunk made it 35-19 – and the two-time PacWest Sea Lions (4-5, 1-1) never got the deficit below seven in the second half.
Behind 11 steals, UHH forced Point Loma into 20 turnovers, scoring 21 points of those miscues, and 42.1% shooting.
“It was more about the mentality of being on the front foot, us being the aggressor in forcing them to make plays instead of them just being able to make plays and create things,” Aiona said. “They are a really good when they can move the ball freely. They are very good when they can run their offense, kick it out to shooters and find the extra pass.
“They are that kind of team, that can get really hot on you. For us, really it was about trying to take them out of rhythm on defense.”
Every time Point Loma threatened to get back into the game in the second half, the better-balanced Vuls had an answer, even as their shooting cooled. The shot 18 of 32 in the opening 20 minutes before settling at 49.2% for the game.
In all, five players scored in double figures. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones finished with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting with seven rebounds, Darren Williams (4 of 6) added 14 points and five rebounds, Donald McHenry (6 of 10) had 13 points and five assists, and Kameron Ng came off the bench to reach double figures for the second time this season, scoring 11 (4 of 7). Jetter had seven points. Kunnert shot 4 of 8 on 3-pointers and made his only field goal inside the arc.
“That’s something with a young team, sometimes you don’t know where your shots are going to come from at times,” Aiona said. “We had a few stretches like that tonight, where we just chucked something up, but when we were running our offense, were spaced right and moving the ball, finding the open guy, I thought the guys did a really good job of finishing.”
Point Loma finished 1-1 in Hawaii. It’s game at Chaminade was postponed because of COVID-19 protocols and it beat Hawaii Pacific 66-60. Luke Haupt, a 6-6 forward, scored 24 points with 10 rebounds Monday, and Myles Franklin nailed four 3-pointers for 18 points.
UHH next welcomes Hawaii Pacific for a Sunday matinee.
“This is a big one for them coming in, just like tonight was a big one for us,” Aiona said.