The UH-Hilo basketball team’s late rally was too little, too late in an 86-82 loss to Concordia on Monday night in Irvine, Calif, handing the Vulcans their second straight loss and knocking them into a tie for first place in the PacWest.
UHH trailed 80-73 with 1:32 remaining until a furious late charge, led by Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, who hit two consecutive layups, and Donald McHenry who sank a floater to cut Concordia’s lead to 83-80 with 10.1 seconds left.
The Eagles buried a pair of free throws then Darren Williams converted a bucket with 5.4 seconds remaining to trim the Eagles’ lead to 85-82.
Then Joshua Caston was fouled. He missed the first free throw, and UHH called timeout. He buried the second free throw for an 86-82 lead. Peyton Grant heaved the ball to Tait-Jones who missed a shot at the buzzer.
Tait-Jones scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds, Williams had 18 points, Max Kunnert added 14, and McHenry had 12 for the Vulcans (10-6, 6-3 PacWest), who shot 51% from the field, including 2 of 12 from 3-point range.
UHH is now tied with Biola (10-6, 6-3) for first place. The Vulcans play the Eagles on Saturday to close their four-game road trip.
Wayne Arnold scored 25 points, Kobe Sanders had 19, Caston 14, and Kayle Knuckles added 11 for the Eagles (8-7, 5-4), who converted 55% from the floor, including 12 of 31 from long distance. Concordia is in eighth place in the PacWest standings.
UHH next plays fifth-place Point Loma (10-8, 6-4) on Thursday.
The Vulcans have 11 more games before the eight-team PacWest championships, slated for March 2-5 at Fresno, Calif.
The champions of the PacWest, CCAA, and GNAC earn automatic qualifiers to the eight-team West Regional. The five at-large teams are determined by the West Region rankings.
Women: Concordia 68, UHH 51
Michaela Vanderklugt scored 29 points on 13-of-17 shooting to lead Concordia to a 68-51 win over the UHH on Monday night at Irvine, Calif., delivering the Vulcans their second consecutive loss.
Jasmine Rachal added 23 points for the Eagles (9-6, 6-3 PacWest), who shot 50% from the field, including 7 of 17 from 3-point range.
Concordia is now fourth in the conference standings, one spot ahead of UHH.
Mandi Kawaha scored 14 points, Nikki Miller added 10, and Heaven Samayoa-Mathis added nine points for the Vulcans (7-4, 4-3), who shot 38% from the floor, including 2 of 7 from long distance.
UHH had eight assists and 16 turnovers and were outscored on points off turnovers, 18-9 and trailed 32-19 at halftime.
The Eagles led by as much as 26 points in the third quarter.
UHH senior guard Sara Shimizu had a career-high five steals in 26 minutes.
The Vulcans play third-place Biola (9-5, 5-2) on Tuesday before hosting visiting Point Loma on Thursday.