(photo by Rick Ogata)

BOX SCORE

HILO, Hawa`i--For the second straight day, 40 minutes of physical and sweaty basketball went the way of the new kid on the basketball block, the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans. 

The Vulcans went toe-to-toe against the torrid pressure of Chaminade and had just enough to hang on for the 71-67 win. That comes one day after securing a very similar 72-67 victory in a hard banging match-up that left both teams beat up and exhausted.

For the Vulcans, it means that they are 7-1 on the season, and 3-1 against Chaminade this year. The Silverswords are 3-5.

UH Hilo next entertains improved Hawaii Pacific on Wednesday (5:30 pm) and Thursday (3 pm).

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had a career-high 18 rebounds to go with 17 points. Sasa Vuksanovic had 18 points and seven boards, and Jordan Graves added 11 points, six rebounds and six steals. Steven Hubbell came off the bench to score 10 points.

Kevin Kremer had a monster game for Chaminade with 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Jessiya Villa and Isaac Amaral-Artharee had 14 each.

Graves matched his career-high with the six steals, five of them coming in the first half helping to turn the tide of the game.

With the Vulcans holding a 15-14 lead, Graves twice picked the pocket of a Silversword and raced to the other end of the court for the basket. In between those two steals, Vuksanovic scored inside to contribute to a 10-2 Vulcan run. 

UH Hilo would lead at the half 32-23, with Graves in the books for nine points, five steals and also leading a defense that held Chaminade to 23 percent shooting and forced ten turnovers.

The Vulcans kept a ten-point or so cushion for the first part of the second half before the visitors came back. A basket by Villa cut the margin to 57-52 and soon after that a trey by Kremer cut the margin to two points (59-57).

Vuksanovic scored inside, but Amaral-Artharee answered to keep it a two-point game (61-59). With just under two minutes left and a 64-61 lead, Darren Williams stole the ball and fed Tait-Jones for the fastbreak lay-in to make it 66-61 with a minute remaining.

Yet, it still wasn't over. A trey by Villa and another by Amaral-Artharee made it 69-67 with seven seconds left. But Chaminade was forced to foul and Graves and Vuksanovic each made a free throw to help seal the deal.

The Vulcan's 7-1 start is believed to be their best beginning since UH Hilo under Jeff Law began the 2004-05 year at 15-1. That Vulcan team went on to qualify for postseason play, reaching the semifinals of the NCAA West Region tournament.

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