UH-Hilo forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones looked absolutely winded like he had run a marathon or gone five rounds in a UFC light heavyweight bout.
Instead, the 6-foot-6 second-year freshman, from New Zealand, had just survived a brutal 72-70 win over Chaminade on Friday night before 431 fans at Hilo Civic.
Tait-Jones struggled offensively, shooting 2 of 12 for six points, often getting clogged in the paint on low-post moves, but grabbed 12 of UHH’s 39 rebounds and paid a price.
Chaminade center Joseph Smoyer is 6-11 and 240 pounds, nearly 35 pounds more than Tait-Jones and produced nine points and nine rebounds. He often bumped and banged Tait-Jones backward, a game of leverage won by the bigger guy.
“He had a tough one. He was getting leaned on, banged on,” UHH coach Kaniela Aiona said. “He was struggling to finish, but one thing I will say is he had 12 rebounds in 22 minutes, three assists, no turnovers, so he did some good things.”
The contest highlighted UHH’s weakness: rebounding. The Vulcans were outrebounded 50-39, and Tait-Jones suffered the brunt of the punishment because the best defensive post player, Ethan Jetter, is still sidelined.
Last season, UHH’s weakness was 3-point shooting. Jalen Thompson, who transferred, shot just 23% from long distance, which forced the Vulcans play 4 on 5.
However, the Vulcans recruited much better shooters this season, and the haul compensated on a night when the Silverswords entered Hilo Civic and set up a picnic table in the paint and ate UHH’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“It was a tough battle, a rivalry game,” Aiona said. “Chaminade’s a big team and physical, smashed us on the offensive boards (17-5). We just had to gut it out. I thought our second group did a great job of picking us up. We got a big lift off the bench from Payton Grant (six points), Kameron Ng (six points), Jamie Strong, Anthony Haskett, and Steven Hubbell.”
Freshman guard Max Kunnert scored 13 points on 3 of 4 shooting from 3-point range, fellow Milwaukee freshman Donald McHenry scored 13 points on 6 of 11 shooting, and Darren Williams added eight points for the Vulcans (12-10, 10-9 PacWest), who shot 44%, including 8 of 19 from long distance and made 8 of 10 free throws.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee took advantage of his athleticism and scored 25 points on 10 of 22 shooting, Raazhel added 13 points, and Zach McIntire had 12 points for the Silverswords (8-17, 6-13), who shot 38%, including 7 of 22 from 3-point range and made 5 of 9 free throws.
The game turned in the fourth quarter when Kunnert drained a 3-pointer for a 68-66 lead with 3:54 remaining. On two missed Chaminade shots, Kunnert got out in transition and scored a layup.
Amaral-Artharee hit a jump shot to cut UHH’s lead to 72-70 with 1:17 left, but that was the last good look the Silverswords would get.
It was UHH’s senior night, and Strong (seven points on 3 of 6 shooting), Haskett (seven points on 2 of 6 shooting), and Hubbell (four points on 2 of 2 shooting) helped outscore Chaminade in bench points, 30-11.
The Vulcans now turn their attention to the PacWest championships, slated March 2-5 at Fresno, Calif., as the No. 7 seed and set to play No. 2 Azusa Pacific (15-4, 18-3). It’s UHH’s first time qualifying for the eight-team tournament.
The Cougars swept the season series, including an 89-51 win Feb. 3 in Azusa, Calif.
“It’ll be a gauntlet going up there. We’re trying to win three games,” Aiona said. “That’s our way of punching our ticket the big dance (West Regional), so we’ve got to win three but one at a time. We’re going to have to shoot it better if we want to do that and rebound.”