HONOLULU, Hawai’i – Carlos Ramsey Jr. flushed in nine of the Vulcans’ 11 points in overtime to finish with a career-high total of 31 — leading the UH-Hilo Men’s Basketball team to a gut-check victory over Chaminade, 90-86, Thursday evening at the McCabe Gymnasium to start Pacific West Conference play.
The Vulcans ended their season-opening road slate with a bang while ending a two-game skid — three if you count the exhibition with UH Manoa — as they were down to their final possessions at the end of regulation.
Zoar Nedd hit back-to-back second-chance layups to give UH-Hilo a two-point lead, but Chaminade’s Isaac Amaral-Artharee got the and-one bucket to fall for a 79-78 advantage with under 20 seconds remaining. Ramsey Jr. pulled up and was blocked on his 3-pointer attempt as Charles Elzie III got the quick rebound but also came up empty on his hoist at the basket. The ball was batted out of bounds with the Vulcans retaining possession with 0.3 seconds on the clock.
After a slew of timeouts, Nadjrick Peat received the inbound pass inside the cylinder and drew a foul to head to the free throw line for a one-and-one opportunity with the game on the line. Peat nailed on the first of his attempts but missed the game-winning chance to send the game to extra minutes.
“First game of the (conference) season — we already dropped two games in a row — I can’t let my teammates down,” Peat said of the game-tying free throw, in a UH-Hilo press release. “Every game matters this season. Second half we just had to lock in, which we did in the end.”
After a quick back-and-forth of trading baskets between Ramsey Jr. and Amaral-Artharee, Peat again was sent to the charity stripe and hit on both free-throw attempts to put the Vulcans ahead for the final time with under a minute left as Ramsey Jr. padded the score further with three more free throws.
“Anything my team needed me to do. Coach put the ball in my hands. He trusted me to finish out the game and that’s what I did,” Ramsey Jr. said. “What I did tonight, it was just a part of the team. We had a ton of guys who came out and did their job. Game by game, we’re getting better.”
Carlos Ramsey Jr. set a career-high of 31 points along with seven assists, seven rebounds and two steals.
Zoar Nedd tallied up a double-double on 10 points and 12 boards. Eight of his points came in the second half and were all on second-chance opportunities following a missed shot.
Nadjrick Peat finished with 10 points and one rebound shy of a double-double.
Kalique Mitchell and Jake Kosakowski (five 3-pointers) also finished in double-digit scoring figures with 15 points apiece.
UH-Hilo moved to 1-0 in the PacWest and 4-2 overall while Chaminade moved to an 0-1 conference record (1-2 overall). The two teams will meet up again Saturday, Feb. 3 in Hilo.
The Vulcans will have a week off before returning to action with the first home match set for Saturday, Nov. 25 against Northwest Indian College at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium for a 7 p.m. tip-off following the Vulcans Women’s Basketball matchup set for 5 p.m.
A previously mentioned Vulcan Madness event scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 19 will no longer be happening.