HILO, Hawai`i--In a game that looked strikingly familiar to the one less than 24 hours ago, the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans held off a game Hawai`i Pacific squad 82-77 on Sunday afternoon at Vulcan Gymnasium.

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had 20 points, 17 of them in the second half to lead a balanced Vulcan attack in the victory, moving UH HIlo to 2-0 in the Kaniela Aiona era. One day earlier, the Vulcans also defeated the Sharks, 79-71. 

Four other players joined freshman Tait-Jones in double figures--Jordan Graves had 13, Sasa Vuksanovic 12 and Jalen Thompson and Steven Hubbell both had 11. Tait-Jones added 11 rebounds for a double-double and Graves had eight assists.

"Every game presents a different learning opportunity," Aiona said after the game. "We trailed early, but stayed focused and the players did their job."

Rodney Hounshell led the Sharks with 23 points, and Tavon Tarpley added double-double numbers with 12 points and 10 boards.

Hawaii Pacific carried the momentum of Saturday's near comeback into Sunday's game. They blitzed out to a 20-9 lead, thanks in part to Rowland's seven points early. But soon, the Vulcans would put together a 14-0 run to take a 28-26 lead after a Thompson trey. The teams would trade baskets in to the halftime break, with UHH holding a 38-35 edge. Graves had nine points and six assists at intermission.

UH Hilo came out of the locker room on fire in the second half. They opened up with a 15-4 run , capped by another Thompson three-pointer to make it 53-40 at the 15:37 mark. But HPU would answer again, namely in the person of Hounshell to keep it close. Later, a Shark 8-1 run cut the margin to 62-57.

In the final three minutes, Lachlan Viney had a pair of key baskets to pull the visitors without two points, and Hounshell did the same (77-75). But Tait-Jones countered with a trey and for the second night in a row, Darren Williams sealed the deal with a pair free throws with 13 seconds left.

"The bench was huge for us today," Aiona added. "We had starters in foul trouble and the guys came off the bench and kept us in it."

The Vulcans will now get a week off before traveling to Honolulu for a pair of games on January 30-31 against Chaminade.

"We have two weeks until our next game, which actually works out well for us in this case," the first-year head coach said. "With the start of the semester, we will give the guys a few days off, watch film and get ready for Chaminade.

"Winning is the greatest deodorant, because we know that we still have plenty of things to work on."