UH-Hilo’s season-opening men’s basketball win two weeks ago against Hawaii Pacific will always be memorable to Kaniela Aiona because it was his first as coach with the Vulcans.
Win No. 3 might have been even sweeter.
Fewer than 24 hours after getting run out of Honolulu’s McCabe Gym at a near triple-digit fever pace, UHH slowed and then eventually solved the Chaminade conundrum, holding on for a 69-68 victory that will carry weight in the West Region rankings.
“It feels good to be able to bounce back,” Aiona said. “One of the nice things about playing back to back is you don’t have to think long and hard about it.”
Freshman Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored 19 points with six rebounds, Sasa Vuksanovic was pivotal in the post with 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Darren Williams converted his third and fourth big free throws down the stretch with 13.9 seconds remaining to pad the lead.
The Vuls return home 3-1 in Pacific West Conference Hawaii pod play. UHH – ranked sixth in the West, two spots below Chaminade – heads back to Oahu next weekend to face HPU twice.
Aiona will make that trip having learning something about his new team.
“We saw what we’re about,” he said. “The guys were not happy with the way they played (in Saturday’s 97-76 loss). We handled ourselves well. That’s a great thing to see from a new team.
“You would think we played them much better, but really the game was won and lost on our mentality.”
It became a winning one only after UHH recovered from blowing a 10-point second lead, setting up a back-and-forth finish. Roman Young hit two free throws to give Chaminade a 61-60 lead with 2:13 remaining, but Williams was fouled on the ensuing possession made two free throws to reclaim the lead.
Tait-Jones came up with a block on the other end, and Steven Hubbell (eight points) nailed a 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game. The Silverswords (1-1) closed within two, Kiai Apele found Tait-Jones for a basket in the paint that restored the four-point lead. Chaminade’s hit Garrett Seagren hit a 3-pointer after Williams’ second set of free throws, and UHH survived a last-second desperation heave after missing two free throws.
“We were able to play the game we wanted to play,” Aiona said. “We controlled the tempo and played inside-out. I likes our passing down the stretch.”
Williams finished with 10 points and five assists, Hubbell came off the bench and provided quality minutes with eight points as the Vuls overcame a 46-35 rebounding disadvantage to end a five-game losing streak to the Silverswords.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee scored 20 points on four 3-pointers for Chaminade, which shot just 38.8%, including 11 of 31 from long range and committed 22 turnovers.
