HILO, Hawai`i—As the No. 8 ranked team in the NCAA Division II west region, holding the last spot to qualify for the west region tournament, Dixie State can't afford any kind of stumble in the final two weeks of the regular season.
Stumble, they did not on Thursday night at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, taking down Hawaii Hilo 98-65.
The win improved the Trailblazers' record to 17-6 overall and to 14-3 in the Pacific West Conference (where they sit in third place). Hawaii Hilo dropped to 6-11 in PacWest action and they are 8-15 overall.
UHH's lone senior playing in his final game,
Parker Farris scored 19 points to lead the Vulcans.
Dixie State trailed in the game only once, at 5-4 after a
Brian Ishola basket. But a Brandon Simister three-pointer on the next DSU possession gave the lead back to the Trailblazers and they would never give it up again. A Farris trey pulled UHH back to within one point at 11-10, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the night. Before you knew it, another trey by Simister and two by Kyler Nielsen put the visitors up, 26-12.
The highlight of the night for Vulcan fans came in the first half when Farris fed Randon Berinobis on fast break dunk, bringing the crowd to its feet. Berinobis was fouled on the play and converted the old fashioned three-point play with 1:26 to go in the half. Moments later, the Trailblazers went into the locker room up 47-37, at intermission.
In the second half, Dixie State began to pull away. Another Nielsen three-ball stretched the lead to 59-40 just three and a half minutes after the break. The Trailblazers put the petal to the metal from there, outscoring the Vulcans 51-28 in the second half.
Dixie State had six players in double figures, led by Nielsen's 18 points.
In double digits for UHH was Ishola, who had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Berinobis added 13 points. But the Vulcans shot just 34 percent from the field and were out-rebounded 45-29.
The Vulcans will head to the bay area next week, taking on Holy Names on Tuesday, Academy of Art on Thursday and Dominican on Saturday to wrap up the 2016-17 season.
