Silverswords surge past Vulcans

“There are no excuses,” UH-Hilo men’s basketball coach Kaniela Aiona said, but the Vulcans will have a better idea of what they are up against Sunday.

On Saturday, Chaminade’s uptemto style was too much to overcome in the Vulcans’ 97-76 loss at Honolulu’s McCabe Gym.

In controlling the flow of the game in their season opener, the Silverswords had five players score in double figures and nailed 11 of 22 from 3-point range. UHH (2-1 Pacific West Conference Hawaii pod) simply couldn’t keep up, not behind 36.3% shooting.

“We didn’t get the types of looks we wanted,” Aiona said. “Give them credit. It takes two. We kind of played into their hands.”

In a telephone interview after his first loss as UHH coach, Aiona made the same point twice heading into his team’s rematch at 3 p.m. Sunday: “We have to play better and more as a team.”

Chaminade accomplished as much, especially during an 11-0 second-half blitz that helped stake the Silverswords to a 52-37 halftime lead. Their advantage as 64-42 by the first media timeout. Kevin Kremer scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Hawaii transfer Jessiya Villa posted 17 points and Isaac Amaral-Artharee added 16.

The teams were nearly statistically identical in rebounding (48-45 Chaminade), turnovers (17-16 Chaminade) and bench points (34-33 UHH).

They weren’t when it came from shooting behind the arc, where the Vulcans were just 5 of 23, losing to their rival for the fifth consecutive game.

Sasa Vuksanovic scored 14 points with 10 rebounds, Darren Williams also scored 14 points, and freshman Ethan Jetter was efficient in coming off the bench, scoring 13 points in 18 minutes.

“It will be nice to have a better idea of what they have (Sunday),” Aiona said.