The UH-Hilo basketball team did almost everything right in the fourth quarter against Academy of Art on Thursday.
But the Vulcans couldn’t hit shots, and the Urban Knights did in a 59-55 victory in the PacWest tournament at Fresno, Calif., where UHH made 2 of 15 shots in the final 10 minutes.
AAU made 4 of 8, including a 3-pointer by Kaila Murrell for a 49-45 lead with 8:42 remaining for a lead the Urban Knights never gave up.
Murrell pushed her team ahead with a bucket a possession earlier. She came off the bench and scored 10 points. Chanel Stuart scored 16 points, and Alisha Wilson added 14 points for the Urban Knights (17-9, 13-4 PacWest), who shot 35%, including 6 of 22 from long distance and made 17 of 26 free throws.
“This was an emotional, tough loss for us,” said PacWest coach of the year David Kaneshiro in a school release. “We give Academy of Art a lot of credit, they made some good plays and their free throws down the stretch. They made enough plays down the end to hold us off, but I couldn’t be more proud of my team. One game does not define what we did this year.”
Mandi Kawaha scored 19 points, Sara Shimizu and Jenna Waki added nine points each, and Nikki Miller had eight points for the Vulcans (13-10, 10-8), who shot 30%, including 3 of 17 from 3-point range and made 18 of 25 free throws.
“I’m not going to stop till the clock hits zero,” Kawaha said.
AAU outscored UHH in bench points, 24-4, and outrebounded the Vuls, 42-35.
In the fourth quarter, Kawaha sank a 3-pointer for a 45-44 led with 9:45 but Murrell answered with a jumper in the paint for a lead the Urban Knights never lost.
Kawaha hit 2 of 2 free throws to slice the lead to 56-54 with 17 seconds left.
But Tuttle was fouled on a fast-break and buried 2 of 2 free throws for a 58-54 lead with 10 seconds remaining.
After Mindy Kawaha missed a 3-point shot with one second, Tuttle was fouled on a fast-break and made 1 of 2 free throws with no time on the clock.