By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
The University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s basketball team lost its sixth straight game Thursday night, but, at least, there’s a bit of consolation in showing nonstop fight against unbeaten No. 7 Dixie State.
The Red Storm often seemed a step slow against the athletic Vulcans, but rallied to win 79-74 in overtime in a Pacific West Conference thriller before 385 fans at UHH gym, retaining their perfect record.
The tall-small combination of 6-foot-10 center Zach Robbins and 6-3 guard DeQuan Thompson produced 46 points for Dixie State (10-0 overall, 4-0 PacWest), which trailed 39-36 at halftime and by eight points early in the second half.
It’s not the first time Dixie State had to dig itself out of a hole. The Red Storm’s biggest halftime deficit was 15 points at home against Point Loma. But they rallied for an 84-82 win on Dec. 14.
Despite the loss, first-year coach GE Coleman liked the fact that his Vulcans didn’t allow a big scoring spurt in either half, something of an Achilles’ heel in the previous five setbacks.
Joey Rodriguez scored 16 points while Darnell Williams and Brandon Thomas had 15 points each to lead UHH (3-8, 0-5) and neutralize Robbins and Thompson, who each had 23 points.
Neither team was able to string together a double-digit run. (The Vulcans had an 8-0 first-half spree). But in the overtime, it was the little things that made the biggest difference.
“I’m proud that we competed for more than 40 minutes,” Coleman said. “We did a much better job than previous games. We’d have one bad spurt in a half that would cost us.
“But it was the little things down the stretch that hurt us, not boxing out, missing free throws. Against a great team like Dixie State, you have to do the little things to close somebody out.”
Right from the tip-off in the extra period, Robbins quickly established comfortable post position, got fed the ball before the Vulcans’ alarm clock went off to wake up their defenders, and dunked with nobody around.
A little later on back-to-back possessions, the Red Storm scored on putbacks. Dalton Groskreutz scored off an offensive rebound, and Robbie Nelson did the same to finish with his only two points.
That made it 75-70 with 3:02 remaining. Then Thomas made a pair of free throws; before Groskreutz’ putback he bricked two free throws. After Williams, who went 6 of 15 from the floor, hoisted an airball, Dixie State called timeout.
Robbins parked himself on the right block, again, received another beauty of an entry pass, and banked in a close-range shot to stick a dagger into the Vulcans, who were suddenly down 77-72 with 1:17 remaining.
Rodriguez, who was 5 of 11 from the field, immediately scored on a layup to get UHH within 77-74 with 57 seconds to play. But he got called for a foul on Thompson, who drained both free throws with 10 seconds left.
Both teams shot fairly well from the floor; UHH was at 42 percent and Dixie State made 46 percent. But the Red Storm cleaned the glass, 51 rebounds to the Vuls’ 35 boards, doing the little things a lot better.
Role model
Under coach Jon Judkins, the Red Storm are used to doing the little things. They’ve won or shared the last four conference titles. Like UHH and unlike the 11 other conference teams, they’re a state school and not fully funded for basketball.
Dixie State athletic director Jason Boothe said they’re close to the maximum 10 full scholarships for men’s basketball for NCAA Division II. In other sports, they’re not. But at least, they cheer hard for their team.
About 30 people, including the Red Storm cheerleaders and dance team, made the trip over. That small group often made far more noise than UHH’s subdued fans, sometimes giving the feel that it was a Red Storm home game.
“UHH and Dixie State are public state schools and the others in the conference are private or for-profit,” Boothe said. “I don’t know how we do it. It’s coaching. I can’t tell you how many times we were down at halftime, made adjustments and took off in the second half. We’ve got talented players, too.”
The game was really a measuring stick for UHH, the conference cellar-dweller, going up against the league’s unbeaten powerhouse. The home team lost again. But Coleman’s guys made an impression.
“I give GE and his team a lot of credit,” Judkins said. “We talked about the 50-50 balls and they beat us and got a lot of those balls. We had a hard time staying in front of those guys. They killed us with dribble penetration. They played a lot better than what we saw on tape.”
As far as playing styles, both teams are a night-and-day difference. Dixie State is all about patience, spacing and moving the ball around. UHH is definitely the opposite of plodding.
What some fans may view as hero ball (a Vul driving to the rim and going 1 against 5 in a half-court set), UHH’s Coleman sees as pure aggressiveness. His team’s favorite activity, though, is scoring layups in transition. (Defense, especially rebounding, is another matter.)
“We attack and that’s what we try to do throughout the year,” he said. “The kids play unselfish and they’re doing a pretty good job.”
Asked the key to winning four straight conference championships, Judkins gave an answer that sort of summed up Coleman’s group.
“We find kids who will play extremely hard, and believe in our system,” he said. “We may not have the most talented kids. But they play extremely hard.”
Dixie State 36 32 11 — 79
UHH 39 29 8 — 74
