HILO, Hawai'i – The Hawai'i Hilo men's basketball team stormed back from a double-digit half-time deficit to take it down to the wire as the Vulcans prevailed in overtime, 87-82, Monday evening in non-conference play at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
Down by two points with just under 10 seconds to go in regulation, Darren Williams (Rancho Cucamonga, California/Rancho Cucamonga HS) took the inbound-pass out of a timeout and went to work down the left side to nail a banked 20-foot shot over two Seawolves defenders to send the game into overtime.
The senior had been 5 of 16 from the field prior to the game-tying score before he took over and seemingly couldn't miss as he rolled straight through OT on 3-for-3 shooting, hitting a step-back 3-pointer at the halfway point for the game-winning basket.
Nursing an 81-78 lead, Nadjrick Peat (Alexandria, Jamaica/York Castle HS) delivered a back-breaking rejection on a Seawolves lay-up attempt and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (Wellington, New Zealand/St. Patrick's College) extended the lead by hitting four free-throw attempts. For good measure, Peat slammed down a fast-break dunk with 10 seconds to go as the Vulcans sealed the 87-82 victory.
"That was an important 'first' for this group to have to do this early on against a well-coached team," Hawai'i Hilo head coach Kaniela Aiona said. "First test of adversity, protecting home court, having some guys out, next man having to step up, falling behind to a good team, having to buckle down at halftime and coming back to change the script of the second half."
The Vulcans found themselves down, 50-36, at halftime but came out swinging in the second half with a 20-5 run to flip the script and take momentum and the temporary lead.
Alaska Anchorage continued to fight and strung together a 7-0 run down the stretch of regulation to take a 72-67 lead. Williams tied it up at 72 on a long-range shot-clock-beating heave at the four-minute mark.
Nearly two minutes later, the Seawolves forced a turnover as Sawyer Storms got the transition-bucket to set up the final sequences of play.
By The Numbers
- Williams finished with 22 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals as he scored 12 of the Vulcans' final 17 points.
- Tait-Jones collected 13 rebounds and put up 28 points with 15-of-21 shooting from the free-throw line. The sophomore recorded his 11th-career double-double.
- Peat was a perfect 7 for 7 from the field, totaling 14 points to go along with 12 rebounds and two blocks.
- It was a tale of two halves of shooting as Alaska Anchorage was 59.4 percent (19 of 32) in the first half before going 8 of 27 (29.6 percent) in the latter period. Hawai'i Hilo was 9 of 26 (34.6 percent) before shooting 51.6 percent (16 for 31).
- Four different players finished with double-digit scoring figures for the Seawolves: Storms (15), Jaedon Bradley (12), Lachlan Viney (16) and Tyson Gilbert (11).
What's Next
Hawai'i Hilo improved to 2-0 overall as Alaska Anchorage fell to 2-3.
The Vulcans will be back at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium next week for the Big Island Holiday Classic where they'll take on Central Oklahoma and Colorado-Colorado Springs Nov. 22-23.
More information will be available at HiloAthletics.com/BigIslandClassic.
The Seawolves will return to Alaska to play Westminster College and Texas A&M International Nov. 25-26 in Fairbanks.
