Vulcans fall to Dominican

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — UH-Hilo’s men’s and women’s basketball teams suffered road losses to Dominican on Monday night, as the men fell 80-67 and the women lost 65-46 to end their five-game win streak.

The Vulcans will continue on the road against Fresno Pacific (Feb. 22) and Westmont (Feb. 24) before returning for one last home contest against HPU on March 2 for Senior Night.

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WOMEN’S TEAM

The UH-Hilo Women’s Basketball team had its five-game win streak ended Monday evening with a 65-46 defeat to Dominican in Pacific West Conference play at the Conlan Center.

The Penguins managed to start hot and never let up as they finished shooting 50 percent from the field (25-50 FG) and from beyond the arc (8-16 3PT) — both the second-highest percentages posted by an opponent this season.

UH-Hilo took care of the ball with season second bests of 12 takeaways and just 10 turnovers committed, but the Vulcans just couldn’t find the bottom of the basket as they shot just .316 from the field. The Vulcans’ 12 steals was the highest tallied against Dominican this season with the Penguins committing a season-high 19 turnovers.

Jazmine Soto posted a season-high 15 points with a game-best four steals.

The two teams previously met in Hilo on Jan. 11 with the Penguins winning, 51-39.

UH-Hilo moved to an 11-12 overall record (8-9 PacWest) while Dominican moved to 11-6 in conference play (18-7 overall).

The top six teams at the end of the regular season will make it to San Diego for the 2023-24 PacWest Conference Tournament set for March 7-9 at Point Loma’s Golden Gymnasium.

UH-Hilo is still just on the bubble at No. 7, one game behind Biola. Dominican is tied for No. 3 with Point Loma.

Azusa Pacific remains at the top with an unbeaten record, having already clinched the conference regular-season title.

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MEN’S TEAM

A 10-0 run midway through the second half put the Vulcans right back within striking distance, but the Penguins managed to oust all opposing momentum with a 16-2 scoring streak of their own as UH-Hilo Men’s Basketball fell to Dominican, 80-67, Monday night in Pacific West Conference action at the Conlan Center.

It was a close affair through the opening 20 minutes of play until Dominican began to pull away for a 10-point lead through the early parts of the second half. From there, UH-Hilo exploded for a 10-0 run and subsequently took the lead at 51-50 with just over 10 minutes left to go.

But from there, the Penguins managed to get hot and shoot 8 of 11 from the field to outscore the Vulcans 30-16 the rest of the way.

UH-Hilo had its lowest outside-shooting output of the season, making just one 3-pointer on 19 attempts (.053). The Vulcans also shot just 57.1 percent (12 of 21) from the free throw line while Dominican posted 21 of 23 (.913) from the charity stripe — the highest mark by an opponent this season.

Kalique Mitchell led with 21 points (8-11 FG) while Nadjrick Peat had his second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds and 13 points.

The two teams previously met in Hilo in mid-January with the Vulcans victorious, 66-54.

UH-Hilo moved to a 15-11 overall record (9-8 PacWest) while Dominican moved to 7-10 in conference play (10-15 overall).

UH-Hilo remained in the PacWest playoff hunt, standing at No. 5 while Dominican sits outside the bubble at No. 7.

Point Loma, Academy of Art and HPU have clinched three of the postseason berths.