SAN RAFAEL, Calif.—There are no snakes in the entire state of Hawai`i, but UH Hilo men's basketball coach
GE Coleman has to feel snake bit right about now.
Playing the first two games of this road trip without post player
Devin Johnson, Coleman was without the services on Saturday afternoon of his leading scorer
Trey Ingram—who had 33 points two nights ago. The result was an 83-67 victory for Dominican at the Conlan Events Center, sending the Vulcans to their fifth straight loss.
Ingram hurt his hand in overtime of Thursday's overtime loss to Holy Names, leaving the Vulcans without one of their top weapons as UHH fell to 3-6 in the Pacific West Conference and to 4-12 overall. Dominican bettered their PacWest mark to 3-7 and they are now 4-14 on the year.
The Vulcans trailed by just two points at halftime (31-29) but ran out of gas in the second half, outscored by the Penguins, 52-38. Dominican hit 19-of-26 shots after the break, a sizzling 73 percent.
UH Hilo showed grit in the first half, battling back from a 27-15 deficit. They went on a 9-0 run to end the first 20 minutes, thanks to free throws from
Ryley Callaghan and
Anthony Canencia, a three-pointer from
Will Burghardt and a jumper from
Cleo Cain.
Early in the second half, the Vulcans used an Eric Wattree jumper to tie the game (31-31) and then Wattree put UHH ahead with a three-pointer (34-33). The Penguins regained the lead, although a
Randan Berinobis bank shot in the paint kept the visitors within two points with 15:32 to go (43-41).
But Dominican went on a 6-0 run to stretch their margin to 50-41 and they would never trail again. Shooting at a red-hot clip, they would put as many as 21 points between themselves and the Vulcans before settling for the final 83-67 margin.
Wattree would lead the Vulcans with 18 points, 14 of them in the second half. Berinobis was in double figures with ten points and five rebounds. UHH shot just 39 percent from the field in the game. They connected on 7-of-21 three-point attempts.
Dominican had five players in double figures, led by Jordan Williams with 16 points and seven assists. Cedric Thomas added 15 points and had eight rebounds.
The Vulcans will now return home after four games in eight days, hosting Point Loma on Saturday, Jan. 27. Start time at the Civic will be 7:30 p.m.
