UH-H athletics: Men’s basketball strikes back to top Westmont
HILO — It was an uphill climb to a well-earned victory as Hawai’i Hilo men’s basketball overcame an early 15-point deficit to take down Westmont, 82-68, Saturday evening in Pacific West Conference action at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
The Warriors managed to start the game hot as the conference’s leading scorer Adrian McIntyre quickly totaled 10 points through the first seven minutes of action as part of four early treys made on the offensive side for the visiting team.
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Hawai’i Hilo responded with a 17-3 run through the next five and a half minutes to bring the score back to an even playing field.
After a bit of back and forth to open the second half, the Vulcans put the pedal to the metal for a 23-10 scoring spurt on 8-of-10 shooting with 5 for 5 from beyond the arc to take a double-digit lead with five minutes to go.
Hawai’i Hilo shot 68 percent in the second half as everyone chipped in led by four double-digit scorers — Julio Montes II (16 points), Nadjrick Peat (15 points), Jake Kosakowski (11 points) and Brody Davis (11 points).
“It was a team effort. Everybody had a field goal except one guy. The second half, we played to our capability on both sides of the ball,” Vulcans head coach Kaniela Aiona said.
“Westmont got off to a great start, but we closed out the game the way we’re supposed to.”
Hawai’i Hilo moved to 2-2 in PacWest play (9-5 overall) as Westmont moved to a 3-3 conference record (5-9 overall).
With the win, fifth-year Hawai’i Hilo head coach Aiona brought his win record to 69-41 to move into a tie at No. 4 in the program history (GE Coleman had a 69-112 record from 2013-2020).
Up next: Rally Towel Giveaway – Thursday, Jan. 9 (7:30 PM) vs Point Loma (Hilo, Hawai’i / Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium)
McDonald’s of Hawai’i: Mahalo to McDonald’s of Hawai’i for supporting Hawai’i Hilo Athletics and Saturday night’s Vulcans Basketball doubleheader. Attending spectators were encouraged to enter into a drawing with 10 lucky fans going home with a free meal voucher redeemable at all Big Island locations.
