UH-Hilo basketball coach GE Coleman didn’t have to go far to find the rim protector he coveted.
BYU-Hawaii athletics is out of business, and the Vulcans could be back in it on the defensive end after signing Denhym Brooke, a 6-foot-8 forward who was second in the Pacific West Conference last year in blocked shots with 48 for the Seasiders.
To put that number in context, consider that UH-Hilo was in sore need of an interior defensive presence after finishing last in the PacWest with just 43 blocks.
Brooke, a native of New Zealand, was seventh in the conference in rebounding and averaged 10 points a contest, starting every game in BYU-Hawaii’s last season and shooting 57 percent from the field.
G.E. Coleman announced the signing of five players, three freshmen and another transfer, calling a class that includes three guards and wing “well-balanced.”
“This is a start to a solid class for us,” Coleman said in a university release. “We expect there to be a couple more before we are done.
“Hopefully, we can build upon this class with a few more players. We have an experienced core group coming back and hopefully these additions can help elevate the program.”
Mike Golden, a 6-1 guard, comes to Hilo from Ocean County College, and Coleman hopes he brings his scorer’s touch with him now that Parker Farris, a prolific shooter, has graduated.
Golden averaged 19.7 points a game last season for his New Jersey junior college, shooting 40 percent from 3-point range while reaching 30 points for times.
Golden surpassed 1,000 points in his two-year career, a milestone that Will Burghardt also reached during three high school seasons at Mark Morris High School in Washington.
The 5-11 guard averaged 23 points a game for the Monarchs and the muitisport star was a First Team All-State (2A) selection in Washington this year.
The other two freshman signees are Cleo Cain, a 6-3 guard who averaged 16.1 points as a junior before playing his senior season in the Los Angeles area, and 6-4 wing Kylan Mann another product of Southern California. Mann averaged 19 points a game at St. Paul High School in being named first-team all-league.
While Coleman already added another potential diference-maker in 6-6 forward Devin Johnson, formerly of Lower Columbia College (Wash.).
The Vulcans are set to return six players who contributed to last season’s 10-16 campaign along with three redshirts. Junior Brian Ishola was the team’s leading scorer and second-leading rebounder.
Vulcan Basketball Camp returns to campus
The 2017 Vulcan Basketball Camp, to be held July 24-27, will feature Vulcan greats from the past and current coaches and players. The camp is open for boys and girls ages eight to 17. The main location will be the UH-Hilo Gymnasium, along with Panaewa Gym.
The camp will feature the legendary UHH coach Jimmy Yagi, along with former UHH basketball coach and athletic director Bob Wilson, former Vulcan standouts Bill O’Rear, Nelson Wong and Paul Lee, along with current UHH head coaches GE Coleman (men) and David Kaneshiro (women). Members of the current UHHo men’s and women’s teams will also assist, and other local coaches have been invited to help.
The cost for the four-day event, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3 and 4 pm each day, is $75. Every camper will receive a camp t-shirt, a basketball, a camp notebook, a team photo and lunch each day.
The Vulcan Basketball Camp is now back in the hands of the UH-Hilo basketball programs, after being run by the County of Hawaii Parks and Recreation for the past few years. It was called the Jimmy Yagi Hoops Summer Camp.
Yagi, former UHH AD Ramon Goya and others started the Vulcan Basketball Camp nearly 40 years ago.
For a Vulcan Basketball Camp registration brochure, go to …
http://hiloathletics.com/documents/2017/5/15/BKB_Jimmy_Yagi_Summer_Hoops_Camp_Brochure_1_.pdf.
