Box Score LAIE, Hawai`i—Parker Farris dropped in a career high 36 points and his Hawai`i Hilo teammates held on to win a wild road game over BYU-Hawaii on Saturday night at the Cannon Activities Center, 93-90.
The win was UHH's first on the road in 2016-17 and improved their Pacific West Conference record to 4-4 (they are 6-8 overall). The Seasiders fell to 4-11 on the year and to 2-7 in league play.
Farris had 22 of his points in the second half, including a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to give the Vulcans a 93-90 lead. The Seasiders set up for one final trey attempt to tie the game, but good UHH defense didn't allow an open look and the last attempt fell well short.
That attempt ended a wild game that saw BYUH nearly erase a 14-point Vulcan lead. With 3:33 left, UHH looked to have the game sealed at 79-65 after a
Darius Johnson-Wilson basket, capping a 28-9 blitz by the visiting team.
But the Seasiders rallied back, using a pair of treys by Gabriel Andrade and Joohan Lee to pull within a point in the final 25 seconds, before Farris' charity makes and the final desperation three-point effort fell short.
Farris, a 6-4 senior guard, hit 12-of-20 shots from the field, nailed 4-of-9 three-point attempts and converted 8-of-9 free throw opportunities. The sharpshooter, who ranked second in the PacWest in scoring coming into the game (21.8), surpassed his previous collegiate best of 32, set in the season opener against Simon Fraser.
Johnson-Wilson was also in double figures with 15 points and six rebounds. Three Vulcans had nine points each—
Brian Ishola (10 rebounds),
Randan Berinobis (six boards) and
Ryan Reyes.
In the first half, the Vulcans broke up a tight game with a 7-0 run with four minutes left to lead 34-27. Three free throws by Farris and inside baskets by Berinobis and
Arnold Silva put UHH up 34-27 and they remained in the top slot on the scoreboard into the halftime intermission. Farris would have 14 first half points as the Vulcans went into the locker room up, 40-36.
Early in the second half, a Farris three-pointer and a Ishola basket gave the Vulcans a 45-38 margin, but the Seasiders quickly countered with an 11-0 run, fueled by back-to-back treys by Lee to take a 49-45 lead.
Another Lee trey made it 56-51 Seasiders at the 14:05 mark, but UHH ripped off an 11-0 run of its own to go up 62-56. That blitz included a pair of baskets by Farris, two by Johnson-Wilson and a three-ball by
Anthony Canencia.
That initial run turned into the previously mentioned 28-9 blitz where the Vulcans dominated for a period of nearly 11 minutes. But a series of costly turnovers and hot Seasider shooting almost sent the game into extra time before the clock ran out on the home team.
The Vulcans enjoyed a 44-35 rebound edge and pulled down 16 boards on the offensive end. Lee led five BYUH players in double figures with 19 points, hitting 5-of-7 three-point attempts.
That was the final match-up of these two teams at the Cannon Activities Center, as the Seasiders are eliminating athletics at the end of the school year.
The Vulcans will return home next week for games against Holy Names on Thursday and Hawai`i Pacific on Saturday.
