The UH-Hilo basketball team got dominated in the paint by Dominican, and things weren’t looking all that good late in the second half on Monday night at Hilo Civic.
The Penguins scored on three straight putbacks to take a 61-54 lead with 9:54 left, grabbing the game’s momentum by the throat. They scored on seven putbacks and had three slam dunks. Then two minutes later, Justin Brown, a 6-foot-10, 210-pound center, bumped Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones backward and put in a close-range jump hook for a 63-59 lead with 8:04 remaining.
The Vulcans responded by doing what they do best: Quick hands on defense and 3-point shooting.
After Steven Hubbell hit 1 of 2 free throws to get the Vulcans within 63-60 with 7:20 to go, Darren Williams picked Jake Blazona’s pocket, stole the ball and made a layup to cut Dominican’s advantage to 63-62.
Tait-Jones followed with two free throws for a 64-63 lead, and Jaime Strong swished a 3-pointer to push UHH ahead 67-63 with 5:30 remaining and never lost the lead again.
The Vulcans toppled the Penguins 86-78 on Monday night before 78 fans on UHH’s pass list, including five who wore their masks below their noses, at Hilo Civic.
Freshman guard Max Kunnert scored a career-high 25 points on 8 of 9 shooting, including 7 of 7 from 3-point range, Tait-Jones and Williams scored 18 points each and Donald McHenry added 11 points to lead the first-place Vulcans (10-4, 6-1 PacWest), who shot 58% from the field, including 13 of 22 from long distance.
“It was a tough game. Dominican plays really hard. They executed their offense really well,” UHH coach Kaniela Aiona said. “Their defense at times slowed us down into getting the tempo that we wanted, but our guys did a nice job of adjusting and making the shots we did get and getting to the free throw line in the second half (12 of 14 free throws, second half). We played better together in the second half, for sure.
“We weren’t connected and tough defensively as we needed to be in the first half. But credit to Dominican. They find the open man and created opportunities in the first half. But those second-chance points, the dunks, we just have to be connected a little better defensively to minimize that.”
Brown muscled his way for 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, Chase Anderson added 14 points off the bench, Anthony Dennis had 12 points off the bench, Adam Parker scored 11 points and Michael Diaz got 10 for the Penguins (5-11, 2-7), who converted 56% from the floor, including 8 of 15 from 3-point range and trailed 39-37 at halftime.
UHH entered as the highest-scoring team in the PacWest with 81.1 points per game while Dominican had the leading defense with 65.7 ppg.
The Penguins outscored the Vulcans in points in the paint, 44-24, second-chance points, 19-3, and bench points, 26-12. However, UHH’s ball-handling was much better with nine assists and five turnovers. Dominican had eight assists and 10 turnovers.
Plus, UHH relied on its quickness, quickly closing seams when Dominican attacked the rim. The Penguins made just 8 of 12 free throws. The visitors from San Rafael, Calif., didn’t have the discipline to play defense without fouling. The Vulcans sank 21 of 26 free throws.
Dominican had a roller coaster start to its PacWest season, falling to Academy of Art (91-71), Fresno Pacific (66-60, beating Chaminade (56-53), losing to Biola (69-66), Concordia (70-60), Point Loma (75-65), defeating Hawaii Pacific (72-67), and falling to Chaminade (84-64) on Saturday before its trip to Hilo.
Late in the fourth quarter, Kunnert swished a 3-pointer for a 74-69 lead, and Williams stripped Diaz for his third steal and sank a layup for a 76-69 lead with 3:20 left.
“Those were big plays, individual efforts by Darren. He’s capable of doing that anytime, and he got it when we needed it,” Aiona said.
Kunnert drilled his seventh 3-ball for a 79-73 advantage with 1:47 remaining, and the Vulcans buried 5 of 6 free throws to close the game.
“Would you look at that,” said Aiona, who finished an interview, pointing to Kunnert’s 7-of-7 3-point shooting display.
UHH next takes a four-game road trip, starting Saturday at Azusa Pacific.
“We’re taking it one day at a time, one game at a time,” Aiona said. “We’re in a good spot, and this next month is going to be a big challenge. We’ve got 10 road games. We have to go to Southern California, Northern California, and also go to Oahu. So no nights off for us, which we’ve come to expect in this league.”