It’ll be another uphill battle for the UH-Hilo basketball team, which will play its biggest game of the season without its best defensive player, Ethan Jetter, who last played in a loss to Biola on Jan. 29.
The No. 7 seed Vulcans (10-9) play No. 2 Azusa Pacific (11-6) in the first round of the PacWest championships at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday at Fresno, Calif.
The Cougars swept the two-game series, 68-62 on the road and 89-51 at Hilo Civic.
“They’re a tough team, well-coached, have good size and shoot the 3 well,” coach Kaniela Aiona said. “Their defense works really well. They’ve stuck in that zone for the last half of the year. It makes them a little different.”
Ken West, a 6-foot-8 forward, leads the team in scoring with 13.5 points per game. Former UH-Manoa forward Justin Hemsley, who’s 6-6, is second with 13.3 ppg, and Hayden Gray, a 6-4 guard, is third with 9.3 ppg.
UHH prevailed over Chaminade 72-70 on Friday night at Hilo Civic, where the Vulcans were outrebounded 50-39, including 17-5 on the offensive glass.
After a sluggish start, the second team kick-started the offense. Jamie Strong and Anthony Haskett each scored seven points while Kameron Ng and Payton Grant added six points each.
“It was good to see them play well and be assertive. We needed that,” Aiona said. “We got 10 guys suited up, and we’ll need all 10 to be ready to go. It’s win or go home.
“We have to move the ball and play with pace, get stops on the defensive end, get out in the floor in transition, and shoot it well. We shot it poorly both times against them.”
The Cougars are not as big as the Silverswords, but almost everyone in the league has a size advantage over the smaller Vulcans.
But Aiona can tell the tale of Charles Barkley, who stood 6 feet 6 but averaged 11.7 rebounds per game over his 16-year NBA career.
How did he do that?
Barkley outworked and anticipated the ball’s bounce better than opponents. He stayed low, relied on leverage and remembered to box out.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, a 6-6 forward who on Tuesday was named the PacWest freshman of he year , leads UHH with 8.1 rpg. Max Kunnert, a 6-4 guard, is next at 3.7 rpg, and Darren Williams, a 5-8 guard, is third at 3.3 rpg. Williams and guard Donald McHenry were named to the all-PacWest third team.
“Against the bigger teams who have a lot of size and crash the glass really hard, we have to rebound by committee and gang rebound,” Aiona said. “We have to scratch and claw for every defensive rebound.”
Yes, the odds are stacked against the Vulcans, but at least they qualified for the eight-team PacWest championships for the first time.
“It’s a great moment for us and the program to be headed to the conference tournament,” Aiona said. “Hopefully, it’s a sign that there are great things to come. We feel good going into the tourney. We understand we have to take it one game at a time. We’ll leave it all out on the floor. The guys are excited about it.”
There’s also good news for the parents of the Vulcans from California who get to watch their sons play, including the parents of Williams (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), Haskett (Walnut Creek), Strong (Glendora), and Steven Hubbell (Burbank).
“It’s open and for the tournament, you only need to wear masks,” Aiona said.
The Vulcans will read their scouting reports, watch film, practice and remember one main thing: rebound.