Kameron Ng is a 6-foot sophomore guard for the UH-Hilo basketball team and also played at Saint Francis, where he led the Saints to a pair of Division II state titles in 2017 and 2018.
His brother is Kordel Ng, a 5-10 freshman guard for Hawaii Pacific, who was on those Saints team that won consecutive state championships but graduated from Kamehameha-Kapalama after Saint Francis closed its doors in 2019.
“I never imagined I’d play against him. I always though we’d be on the same team,” Kameron Ng said. “But it was a cool experience.”
In what’s become routine, the Vulcans beat the Sharks 79-67 on Sunday for the eight straight time before 651 fans at Hilo Civic, where the Ing brothers met as opponents again.
After the game, a photo was being taken of the two, but following the brother code, Kameron Ng started to stand on his toes to be much taller than Kordel Ng.
“He started it. He always has to do that,” Kameron Ng said.
The next family dinner will be brother ragging on brother as usual. Parents Kekoa and Cheryl Ng get the unwanted job of playing referee.
“We’re always talking trash to each other,” Kameron Ng said. “It’ll be the same way. We have a real competitive game to talk about now.”
Well, Kameron Ing can remind his brother that UHH is 17-11 all-time against HPU and went 6-0 against the Sharks during the shortened-COVID-19 spring season.
As for the game, the brothers didn’t have much of a chance to guard each other, but they were on the court at the same time.
In 19:21 minutes, Kameron Ng scored five points on 2 of 8 shooting, including 1 of 3 from 3-point range, had two rebounds, two assists and two turnovers.
In 16:01 minutes, Kordel Ng scored four points on 1 of 6 shooting. He made 2 of 4 free throws, grabbed one rebound, had three assists and zero turnovers, ideal numbers in ball-handling duties.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting, Donald McHenry added 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting, including a slam dunk, Darren Williams, who produced a five-star distribution game, had 14 points, seven assists and just one turnover, and Max Kunnert had 12 points, including 2 of 4 from 3-point range, for the Vulcans (6-4, 2-1 PacWest), who shot 49%, including 10 of 21 from long distance.
“I thought we did a good job of sustaining. HPU did a good job in the second half,” said UHH coach Kaniela Aiona, whose team was outscored 42-39 in the last 20 minutes. “We had a hard time stopping them, but the guys did just enough to keep the lead. It’s good to see us play assist basketball especially in the first half.
“Only eight turnovers on the night, so it was us taking care of the ball. That’s a big deal, somewhere we have to keep improving. We had four guys in double figures in that first group and good contributions off the bench.”
Colton Martin used his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame to bump the Vulcans backward for 13 points, and Rodney Hounshell went airborne for 12 points for the Sharks (3-5, 0-3), who converted 44%, including 5 of 20 from 3-point distance and outscored UHH in the paints, 40-32.
The Vulcans got their hands into passing lanes, grabbed six steals and outscored the Sharks in points off turnovers, 17-8, and fast-break points, 10-3.
In the first half, Kunnert, a freshman from Milwaukee, scored nine straight points for a 35-19 lead. He hit a jumper, a shot at the elbow, a 3-pointer, and scored on a layup with 3:46 left.
He also buried a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left for a 40-25 halftime cushion.
In the second half, Tait-Jones relied on his 6-7 frame and agility to swim around the Sharks for layups, hitting three, the last for a 62-50 lead with 7:22 remaining.
UHH next plays HPU on Dec. 30 at the Shark Tank on Oahu after the winter break. Aiona understands that the Sharks read the paper, too, so it makes no sense to poke a wounded animal in the ribs.
“Every game is different. They’re a well-coached team, tough team,” he said. “Today was our day, but I thought HPU did a lot of really good things. We get a couple of days of practice after the break and play them at the Shark Tank.”
To those unfamiliar with the Shark Tank, that’s Saint Francis’ old gym in Honolulu, where together the Ng brothers used to light it up for the Saints back in the day.