Photo courtesy of Joe Poellot/UHH.

HILO, Hawai'i-- Freshman Max Kunnert led the UH Hilo men's basketball team with 16 points in the Vulcans' solid 84 -73 win against Point Loma in the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

UHH improved 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the PacWest Conference while PLNU fell 4-5 overall and 1-1 in league.

The Vulcans' began the first half taking an 8-0 run over the Sea Lions and held their largest lead at 35-19 with a little less than four minutes left until halftime off a dunk by Ethan Jetter. 

UH Hilo held the lead going into halftime up 44-33.  UHH finished with an impressive first half offensive performance going 7-for-18 behind the arc, Kunnert was 3-for-4 and Kameron Ng was 2-for-4. 

Point Loma made a short comeback in the second half, scoring the first three points off a bucket in the paint and a free throw from a Vulcan foul. But the Red and Black bounced back fast. Shortly after Jetter made a basket and about a minute later Kunnert sunk in a three making the score Vulcans up, 49-38. 

UH Hilo continued to hold a steady lead, continuing to apply the offensive pressure and going back and showing up on defense.  

UHH had 11 steals, just three away from making the UH Hilo Single Game Records List. Jetter led his team with four steals followed closely behind was Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones with three, and a handful of Vulcans had one each. 

Tait-Jones also led in rebounds with seven, and then Kunnert had six and Darren Wiliams had five respectively.

Behind Kunnert in scoring was Tait-Jones with 15 points, Williams with 14, and Donald McHenry with 13. 

The Vulcans play next Dec. 12 against Hawaii Pacific at 1 pm HT in the Vulcan Gym. 

To view the men's basketball schedule, CLICK HERE.