You could have looked at the schedule last summer and identified these days as the time the University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s basketball program needed to come together and rack up some conference victories.
It hasn’t been easy, but the Vulcans seem to have gotten the message after an 98-90 victory over Fresno Pacific University Monday night in the second game of an important five-game homestead that probably deserves a gold star by the scoreline.
That would be the notation served for junior transfer Parker Farris who broke the school record for 3-point baskets in a game when he dropped through nine of them — eight in the first half — and finished with 32 points, his season high.
The win was the third in a row for UH Hilo, its best streak of the season, matching three three-game win streaks from a year ago and left the Vulcans 3-5 in Pacific West Conference play (3-9 overall), while Fresno Pacific dropped its second in a row on this road trip and fell to 4-5 in the conference and 8-8 overall.
Farris tied the school record for 3-point shots in a game with 6:10 left in the first half on a launch from the left wing that made it 44-24, giving him eight long conversions in 11 attempts, matching the output of Jay DeMaestri in December of 2008 against Alaska-Fairbanks.
“It didn’t feel any different,” Farris said, “I always think I’m going to shoot like that, tonight they just fell. I can’t explain it.”
He was lava hot from the very start, making his first two as the Vulcans ran out to an 11-2 lead, just two minutes into the game. Leading 22-11, Farris opened it up a bit with back-to-back 3-pointers 18 seconds apart that expanded the advantage to 28-11 and after a jumper by Van Lockett, Farris got open again and drained a long 3 for a 33-13 lead with 9:26 remaining in the half.
Farris put his name atop the school record book for 3-pointers when he knocked one down over the outstretched arms of a Sunbirds defender who made a late rotation. The shot, from the left side, gave the Vulcans a 75-52 lead with 10:39 remaining in the game.
“He’s a special shooter, a special player,” coach GE Coleman said. “Everybody in the program realizes Parker has not a green light, a flashing green light. The people of Hilo should be excited to have a guy like this they can come out and see.”
Salim Gloyd added 22 points for UH-Hilo.
Still missing injured players, the Vulcans have been operating out of a six or seven-player rotation but some early foul trouble — starter Ryan Reyes picked up three fouls early in the half — forced Coleman to go to his bench early. Guards Maikai Gahan (eight minutes total playing time this season) and Anthony Canencia (three minutes), both played more in the first half than they have all season. Gahan, a Waiakea graduate, dropped in a 3-pointer and free throw in the first half before fouling out with 12:07 left in the game.
After building a 57-37 advantage by halftime, the Vulcans were treading carefully in the second half with their depleted roster and fouls accumulating too rapidly, so they spent much of the second half spreading the floor on offense, looking for open shots in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock.
“They found a way to win again,” Coleman said. “I kind of feel like they have some confidence building. A coach is always going to nit pick, but we got off to a good start — 11-2 — and we played pretty good defense but foul trouble is always a problem with a short bench.
“We held them to 39 percent, how many of those were second chance points? It’s hard for us in there to stop them in the post when we’re in foul trouble.”
UH-Hilo has an opportunity to extend its win streak Thursday when it hosts Dixie State in its first game on a trip through the islands. Dixie State (4-3 in conference, 8-7 overall), fell at home to Point Loma Nazarene Monday, 76-72.
