Vulcan Men to Visit BYU-Hawaii One Last Time
 
Hawai`i Hilo (5-8/3-4 PWC) vs. BYU-Hawaii (4-10/2-6 PWC), Saturday (Jan. 14, 7:30 pm), Cannon Activities Center, Laie, Hawaii
Live Stream/Live Stats at www.byuhawaiisports.com, 
 
Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans dropped a pair of home games last week to Azusa Pacific (81-77) and Concordia (77-69). The losses cooled off a UHH team that had won five of their previous six games. At 3-4, the Vulcans are now tied for eighth place in the Pacific West Conference.

Last Trip to Laie: This week there is just one game on the schedule, a Saturday contest at BYU-Hawaii. This will be the last-ever match-up between the Seasiders and Vulcans in Laie, as BYU-H is dropping their entire athletic program at the end of the 2016-17 year. UHH will then return home for Jan. 19 and 21st games against Holy Names and Hawaii Pacific.

So Close: The Vulcans lost to a pair of southern California teams at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium last week, both of them very close until the final moments. Against Azusa Pacific, the two clubs were tied at 62-62 with just over four minutes left, but the Cougars outscored the home team down the strech, taking a eight-point lead with 1:18 to play. UHH would pull to within one point on a Arnold Silva basket with 15 seconds left but that would be the end of the scoring on the night for the Vuls. Against Concordia, UHH battled back from behind, erasing an eight-point deficit and closing to within one point on a Brian Ishola bucket with 2:50 remaining (68-67), but they went cold down the stretch as the Eagles converted free throws to seal the win.

News and Notes: Senior guard Parker Farris leads the Vulcans and is second in the PacWest in scoring at 21.8 points a game. He is also second in the league in free throw percentage (.910), nailing 61 of 67 attempts. His 2.8 three-pointers a game is fourth in the league. He has scored in double figures in every game except one (Hawaii). He scored 32 in the season opener against Simon Fraser and had 30 versus Seattle Pacific...North Dakota State transfer Brian Ishola averages 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds a game, the latter leading the team. He also ranks second in the conference in that category and has five double-doubles on the season...Ryley Callaghan (10.7) and Darius Johnson-Wilson (10.6) are also in double figures...Callaghan leads the squad with 50 assists on the season...The Vulcans are shooting .752 from the free throw line, the third most accurate mark in the PacWest...The Vulcans will be looking for their first road win of the year when they travel to BYU-Hawaii (0-5).
 
Randan Rebounds: 6-4 junior Randan Berinobis pulled down a school and conference record 24 rebounds during a Dec. 29 win over Northwest Indian College. The local product (Hilo High School) had nine boards on the offensive end and 15 defensively. His remarkable performance broke the previous single-game UHH best of 20, shared by Marcus Owens in 1996 vs. Chaminade and Gene Arceneaux in 1986 versus Hawaii Pacific. Berinobis' total also broke the PacWest mark of 22 set by Chaminade's Kuany Kuany in 2014. "Randan pulled us through in that game with his energy," said his head coach GE Coleman. "His effort was huge. Rebounding is about effort and Randan brings it." Berinobis was named the Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week for his efforts, and he finished fifth in the voting for the D2 Hero National Basketball Player of the Week.
  
Head Coach GE Coleman: Vulcan head coach GE Coleman (33-56) enters into his fourth season as the leader of the UHH program. Originally inheriting a team that had won just six games, he has steadily built the team into a PWC tournament contender. Prior to arriving on the Big Island, Coleman was the associate head coach at Central Washington for six seasons, and an assistant with the Wildcats for another five years prior to that. He was an assistant for two seasons at Eastern Washington. His assistant, Mark McLaughlin, is a former CWU standout who twice led the nation in scoring at over 27 points a game.
 
A Look Back: Last year, the Vulcans began the year on a horrific nine-game losing streak, but righted the ship enough to finish 9-11 in conference play (9-15 overall), just missing the Pac West Conference tournament by one game.

Sentences about the Seasiders: BYU-Hawaii is coming off a inspring victory over Azusa Pacific on Saturday (80-79), when Tanner Nelson hit a three-pointer with 13 seconds left and Shad Watson nailed seven treys during the 40 minutes and scored 26 points. That win snapped a six-game losing streak and gave the Seasiders their second conference victory of the season (2-6). BYU-H began the conference year with a 90-80 win over Holy Names on December 3, but hadn't seen the win column since. 6-3 sophomore guard Tanner Nelson leads the team in scoring with 18 points a game, fifth best in the PacWest. He exploded for 35 against Alaska. Shad Watson, a 6-1 freshman guard, averages 3.2 three-pointers a game, third in the conference. The Seasiders won both games between the two teams last year and have won the last three games in the series.

2016-17 Men's Basketball Quick Facts
Location: Hilo, Hawaii         
Founded: 1947          
Enrollment: 3,666                             
Nickname: Vulcans                                                               
Conference: Pacific West Conference                                             
Affiliation: NCAA Division II
Head Coach: GE Coleman (fourth season, 33-56 current)
Contact Info: 808-932-7165, colemang@hawaii.edu
Assistant: Mark McLaughlin
Facility: Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium
2015-16 Overall Record: 9-15
PacWest Record: 9-11 (7^th)
Starters Returning/Lost: 2/4
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 4/6