Darren Williams is from Southern California, and UH-Hilo basketball coach Kaniela Aiona knew his junior point guard wanted to dazzle Biola, a team near his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., about an hour’s drive from the La Mirada private university.
The 5-foot-8 Williams did more than dazzle the Eagles. He torched them up for 28 points on 8 of 14 shooting in a 97-89 win on Monday before 28 fans on UHH’s approved pass list, including three who wore their masks below their noses, at Hilo Civic. The Vulcans instituted a no spectator policy for the general public last Monday for games through January.
Williams buried 3 of 6 from 3-point range, 9 of 10 free throws, snagged five rebounds against much taller defenders, and dished out five assists with two turnovers. In other words, it was pretty much a typical Williams game. He averages 15.0 points and 5.0 assists per game.
“There are a few schools around the area I grew up in so it’s not really too big a deal to me,” he said. “It will be a lot of fun to go on the trip to Southern California and play in front of my family and friends. I surprisingly do not know anybody on their team personally.”
Donald McHenry added 20 points on 6 of 10 shooting, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones produced a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, Max Kunnert had 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting from long distance, and Kameron Ng came off the bench for 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting for the Vulcans (8-4, 4-1 PacWest), who shot 51% from the field, including 13 of 28 from 3-point range and won their fourth straight.
“The guys competed really hard and played together,” UHH coach Kaniela Aiona said. “Darren has been waiting a long time to play the SoCal schools. We knew he was going to come out aggressive and with a chip on his shoulder. He played great, hit his free throws and got guys involved with five assists. For a little guy, he had five rebounds.
“Aniwa had 13 rebounds, and it was nice to get Ethan (Jetter) back in. He’s a guy whose game doesn’t show up in the boxscore, but he’s a big piece of what we do. It was a good team win with a lot of energy. We have a number of guys who can put up double-figures on any given night. That’s one of our strengths.”
The UHH women’s game against Biola was postponed due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. No makeup date has been determined. It’s UHH sixth consecutive postponement.
The Vulcan women (5-2, 2-1) host Academy of Art (7-5, 4-1) at 5 p.m. Thursday at Hilo Civic, followed by the UHH men’s game against the Urban Knights (9-5, 5-1) at 7:30 p.m. The general public is not allowed, and fans on UHH’s pass list are required to wear face masks at all times, except for drinking or eating, with fans who don’t wear face masks subject to ejection.
Chris Rossow scored 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range, Alex Wright soared to the rim for 22 points on 8 of 13 shooting and Michael Bagatourian ate lunch in the paint for 17 points for the Eagles (11-3, 5-2), who converted 59% from the floor, including 7 of 15 from long distance.
The most dangerous Eagle was Rossow, an ordinary looking 5-9 senior guard. He’s not fast at all or athletic like Wright. But he gets the ball in the basket. He scored 33 points in a 77-68 win over Chaminade on Saturday and lit up Hawaii Pacific for 32 points in a 90-82 victory over Chaminade last Thursday.
The Vulcans played man defense against him and rotated defenders, but Rossow moved well without the ball and once open he fired away, and 64% of the time the shot went in.
“Their top three scorers (Rossow, Wright, and Bagatourian) are fantastic scorers. We told the guys that they’re going to put up points,” Aiona said. “It’s the first game Rossow hasn’t hit 30 on this Hawaii trip. He got 27 points and six assists, but we felt we did a pretty decent job against him at times believe it or not. Michael Bagatourian is a nice player, but he couldn’t quite get it going in the first half (four points), but as you can see he hit some baskets in the second half. Wright is a load. He’s a big (6-5), experienced (redshirt junior) guard. Our guys did a good job making his life hard tonight.”
UHH is second in the conference standings behind perennial doormat Academy of Art, which hasn’t had a winning record in over a decade, and ahead of Azusa Pacific (6-5, 3-1), one of the better PacWest teams.
The Vulcans are back on track to earn the program’s first West Regional postseason appearance since 2002 when Jeff Law was the coach.
Last season in Aiona’s debut, UHH finished 10-2 and missed the postseason by one game, falling to Chaminade 75-62 at McCabe gym on Oahu in the last game of the year.
The Eagles outscored the Vulcans in the paint, 48-28. But UHH outscored Biola on fast-break points, 19-3, points off turnovers, 16-11, and bench points, 17-10.
Even better, the Vulcans seized momentum early with an 8-0 lead and drilled five 3-pointers to grab a 47-39 halftime lead, the last on McHenry’s 3-ball with 16 seconds left.
UHH made a critical 8-0 run in the middle of the second half to go up by 18 points. Tait-Jones nailed a 3-pointer, McHenry got a bucket, and Williams sank a 3-ball for a 67-49 cushion with 14:16 remaining.
With under a minute, the Eagles chopped the lead to 89-84 with 51.9 second left after scoring five straight points.
However, Biola couldn’t force any turnovers down the stretch. UHH’s ball-handlers had great ball security and finished with just eight turnovers. The butter-finger Eagles had 14 turnovers.
Also, McHenry and Tait-Jones combined for 4 of 4 free throws with under 20 seconds to ice the game. UHH hit 22 of 24 free throws.
Williams drew little interest from colleges after he graduated from Rancho Cucamonga High, a reason he went to nearby Chaffey College for junior college ball.
“My dad (Darryl Williams) and I reached out to almost every D1 and D2 school in the country, and everyone passed on me at least once, which is why I I had to go play Juco at Chaffey,” Williams said. “After my two years at Chaffey, every school in my area knew about me but still none of them offered me a scholarship.”
Aiona did, and he got one of the best and biggest steals in UHH’s history.
Williams was happy for one other reason. Though he was born in Philadelphia, he’s a diehard Minnesota Timberwolves fan because of guard D’Angelo Russell.
“The Twolves are in the playoffs,” he said. “Check the standings.”
Yes, he’s right.
The Timberwolves have made the playoffs nine times in their 32 seasons and have never won an NBA championship. No. 8 seed Minnesota battles No. 1 Golden State in the first round of the Western Conference, and the Warriors hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.