The difficulty ramped up for the UH-Hilo basketball team against Alaska Anchorage, playing without its best player for much of the second half while trying to protect a seven-point, first-half lead.
The Vulcans relied on their bench and just enough defense on sharpshooter Hunter Sweet to defeat the Seawolves 75-72 on Tuesday night at Hilo Civic.
Freshman guard Donald McHenry had breakout game with 24 points on 11 of 17 shooting to lead the Vulcans (4-0), who shot 51% from the field and led 42-35 at halftime.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, who averaged nearly a double-double during the COVID-19 season, added 11 points, despite playing just 20:23 minutes. Darren Williams and Max Kunnert each scored 11 points while Jamie Strong came off the bench and had eight points for UHH, which hit 7 of 22 from 3-point territory.
Tait-Jones picked up his third and fourth fouls at the 17:37 mark. He fouled out with 1:19 left and UHH ahead 75-69.
“It was a tough game. Anchorage is well-coached. They know their stuff and run a good system,” UHH coach Kaniela Aiona said. “They gave us a little trouble at times, and we have to do better at finishing games. We had a couple of bad possessions and turnovers. Anchorage is a good squad. We can’t let them hang around.”
Sweet scored 30 points on 11 of 21 shooting, hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range, to lead the Seawolves (1-2), who shot 44% from the floor and beat Hawaii Pacific and lost to Chaminade.
Oggi Pantovic added 13 points, and Tobin Karlberg and Caleb Larsen had 10 points each for Alaska Anchorage, which hit 9 of 23 from long range.
The Vulcans had a key 12-0 run late in the second half to grab a 75-63 cushion. Kunnert scored seven points during that spurt. He completed a three-point play, nailed a 3-pointer, and made one free throw. Tait-Jones hit one free throw for a 75-63 lead with 2:02 left.
But the Seawolves swished three straight 3-pointers to get within 75-72 with 1:03 remaining. Sweet hit the final 3 during that short scoring spurt.
Alaska Anchorage called a timeout with 18.5 seconds left and set up a 3-point attempt for Larsen, who fired as the clock ran down. His ball clanked off the rim, and the Vuls prevailed.
The Seawolves were picked No. 2 in the preseason GNAC poll, behind defending champion Seattle Pacific.
Alaska Anchorage returns two All-GNAC players in senior forward Pantovic and junior guard Karlberg. Senior guard David Rowlands, who transferred from Hawaii Pacific, added six points.
The Seawolves started the second half with a different strategy, dumping the ball in the post to 6-foot-7 Pantovic, who played bumper-car offense against Ethan Jetter.
Pantovic, who’s built like a UFC light heavyweight, bumped Jetter, got closer to the basket, and unleashed consecutive jump hooks to get the Seawolves within 42-39.
McHenry relied on his quickness to get around the Seawolves for layups. He hit three in a 12-minute span, the last for a 53-42 lead with under 14 minutes remaining.
In the first half, the Vulcans had a nice quality of balance. Tait-Jones and McHenry each scored 10 points each, Williams added seven, and Strong had six points.
However Sweet gave UHH hard rubs with his inside-out ability. He torched UHH’s front-court defense for 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting, including 2 of 5 from long distance.
The Seawolves started out with a nice 7-0 run as Sweet drained a 3-ball, followed by a basket in the paint, and Rowlands capped the run with a 3-pointer for a 7-2 lead.
UHH later answered with a 5-0 run when Tait-Jones hit two free throws, Williams nailed one of two, and Tait-Jones hit a layup for a 17-13 lead with under 11 minutes.
The only problem for the Vuls was Tait-Jones picked up two fouls in the first half, along with Kunnert, Jetter, Steven Hubbell, and Kia’i Apele.
With 1:22 left, Williams made an alley-oop pass to Erik Borg, who caught the ball and finished for difficult layup and a 42-32 lead.
But as tie was winding down, the Seawolves swung the ball to an open Sweet, who buried a wide-open 3-pointer to cut UHH’s lead to 42-35 at halftime.