It was an afternoon of firsts for the Hawaii Hilo men’s basketball team Sunday in the Vulcans’ campus gymnasium when everything started off wrong but finished well at the end.
The Vulcans snapped a five-game losing streak and won their home opener in exasperating fashion when they outlasted Notre Dame de Namur 68-63 in a game that was a struggle from start to finish.
The UHH men’s and women’s teams both opened their games with a 1-0 deficit before the tipoff after officials charged an administrative technical foul to the school for having a shot clock that wasn’t working properly and a horn on the clock that was barely audible. In each case, the Argonauts made their gift free throw and started with a 1-0 edge before any basketball was played.
When the men’s game got started, NDNU jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but Brian Ishola and Parker Farris got the Vulcans going with inside baskets, then Darius Johnson-Wilson scored twice for an 8-7 lead and UHH stayed in front almost the entire disjointed, foul-filled game.
Almost, because a brief Argos lead in the final minute was wiped out with some rebounding and ball movement that kept the Vulcans (2-5 and 1-2 in the Pacific West Conference) in front.
The ugly part of the game came in fouls — 52 called, in all, including 29 on UHH — and even worse for the visitors was what they did with their opportunities, especially in the first half.
Notre Dame de Namur was held to 18 percent shooting in the first half — 5-for-28 — and it made barely 50 percent of its free throws, 12-for-24.
At the end, the visitors had 42 free throws to only 24 for Hawaii Hilo and the Argos (1-6, 0-2) were only at 55 percent for the game after making 23 of those foul shots.
NDNU coach George Puou declined to speak to the Tribune-Herald after the game, but offered assistant coach Matt Fleming for the duty.
“Free throws have been a problem for us, it’s a practice thing and we just haven’t had much time on this trip to work on it,” Fleming said. “Today, we just weren’t ready to play. We played better defensively in the last five minutes of the first half and then in the second half but it wasn’t a good effort, that’s for sure.”
Ishola, the junior transfer from North Dakota State, had 12 rebounds and 11 point for the Vulcans, while senior Parker Farris led them with 22 points that included 3-for-7 from 3-point range and 5-for-6 from the foul line. Darius johnson-Wilosn had 12 points, point guard Ryley Callaghan added 10.
“It’s a work in progress,” said UH-Hilo coach GE Coleman, “but I’m proud of how they hung together and tougher it out, there were a lot of times they could have folded up but they didn’t.”
The Vulcans were in foul trouble throughout the game and had NDNU shooting the bonus with 14:48 left in the half. In the second half, there was a point where they had three players with four personal fouls and three with three. Nobody fouled out, but Coleman’s team finished with six players who had four fouls.
Coleman went to a zone defense in the last 10 minutes to protect his players, but that opened up the floor for the Argonauts and allowed them to close the gap.
“We can build off this,” said Ishola. “It wasn’t pretty, but it’s our first conference win, our first home win and it gives us something to build on.”
The Vulcans are off until Saturday when they play a rematch with Chaminade, tentatively scheduled for the Afook-Chinen Civis Arena, assuming roof repairs to the facility will be down in time.
Argos 70, Vulcans 58: A close, competitive first half turned around and went the other way for the Vulcans when Notre Dame de Namur (4-5, 2-0), came out in a full court press that seemed to get the UHH (1-4, 1-2), offense out of its comfort zone at the start of the second half.
Leading 29-26 at the half, Hawaii Hilo was outscored 44-29 in the second half, struggling again with too many turnovers and too few assists. The Vulcans finished with 9 assists on 25 field goals and committed 18 turnovers, 13 in the final two quarters.
“Hawaii Hilo did a great job in the first half making us play their game at their pace,” said NDSU coach Sheila Adams, “that’s not how we like to play, so we needed to pick up the pace, we want to run and gun and we were able to do that with the press.
“It wasn’t that it broke them down,” Adams said of the press, “but it was enough to get us running and moving and that’s what we needed.”
Sophomore Jerusha Paine was too much for the Vulcans, especially in the second half. She finished with game-high totals in points (21) and rebounds (15), with 15 of her points and 10 of her rebounds coming in the second half.
“We knew about her,” said UH Hilo coach David Kaneshiro, “and tonight she was better than we were. We weren’t as active defensively in the second half as we were in the first.
“We are still finding our way offensively,” he said. “It might not have looked like it, but but we were in a better flow offensively than we were last week in Oahu. It’s not there yet but it’s coming.”
Vanessa Mancera led the Vulcans with 15 points. She was 2-for-3 beyond the 3-point line in the first half but she got just one of those long range shots in the second half, and made it. Sydney Mercer had 12 points and Lauren Hong 11 for UHH.
