The men’s basketball game Tuesday night between the University of Hawaii at Hilo and the University of Central Oklahoma ended early without a final score.
The two teams met for nonconference action at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium as part of the Big Island Holiday Classic, with the Vulcans leading 62-54 at the point when the contest was called off.
After a 10-minute delay at the 7:40-mark of the second half, officials were unable to resolve issues with on-court moisture, and the game was announced as canceled.
“The visiting coach did not want to continue for health and safety for his student athletes. I will say there have been moments in the past where we’ve had more condensation and have taken care of it during the game,” said Athletic Director Patrick Guillen. “We would not allow athletes to play on an unsafe floor, but this is a normal issue for Hilo. When there is moisture, we wipe the floor and play on, but this visiting coach did not want to do that.”
An official ruling about the contest by the NCAA will come at a later time in the near future, UH-Hilo said in a press release.
For the time being, The Vulcans remained at 2-0 overall as No. 8 Central Oklahoma stayed at 3-0.
Darren Williams and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones racked up 14 points and 8 rebounds each. Cameron Wall was 4-for-4 with two 3-pointers for 11 points. Nadjrick Peat totaled 9 points and 7 boards with 2 blocks. Kalique Mitchell saw his first action of the season with 21 minutes of play.
Callen Haydon led the Central Oklahoma Bronchos with 16 points.