IRVINE, California – Point Loma struck a definitive first blow in important December PacWest action, beating Azusa Pacific on the road to earn Team of the Week honors. Hawai'i Hilo's Darren Williams was almost perfect as the Vulcans ran past island rival HPU. Dominican's Jaayden Bush played a stopper role as the Penguins held Fresno Pacific to 56 points to move to 2-1 in conference play.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
DARREN WILLIAMS / G / SENIOR / 5'8 / RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIFORNIA
Hawai'i Hilo played just one game last week, but point guard Darren Williams put up numbers that grabbed attention in UHH's 97-79 home win over HPU.
Williams had a season-high 28 points, missing just two shots in 39 minutes. The southern California native hit 11 of 13 attempts, including 6 of 7 from three-point range. He also had five assists and three steals to help lead the Vulcans to a 3-0 mark in PacWest play and they are now 5-1 overall.
On the young season, the third-year Vulcan standout leads the PacWest in assists (5.7), three-point percentage (.553) and is second in steals (2.5) and fourth in scoring (19.2).
REGIONAL REVIEW
Point Loma's win over Azusa Pacific created some movement in this week's D2SIDA West Region poll. Four PacWest teams are on the list: No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino (6-1), No. 2 Saint Martin's (8-1), No. 3 Western Washington (6-1), No. 4 Point Loma (8-3), No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona (6-1), No. 6 Azusa Pacific (8-3), No. 7 Montana State Billings (7-3), No. 8 Biola (7-3), No. 9 Hawai'i Hilo (5-1), No. 10 Seattle Pacific (6-3).
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES
Academy of Art, Dominican and Hawai'i Hilo each had just one game last week and capitalized by winning it ... Biola and Azusa Pacific both went 1-1 ... Biola's Daniel Esparza had 16 points in the loss to Point Loma and had 17 in a 83-63 win over Concordia. BU's Erik Howlin had 38 total points in the two contests ... George Reedy led four players in double figures with 15 points in APU's 78-53 victory over CUI ... Academy of Art got back on track with a 74-71 win over Chaminade. Mike Asante had 17 points and six boards ... Chaminade's Isaac Armaral-Artharee had a monster game against the Urban Knights with 29 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals, hitting 9 of 12 shots from the field including 5 of 8 from behind the arc ... In Dominican's win over the Sunbirds, Bush had 18 points, Garrett Siebels had 19 and PJ Volz had 17 in the balanced attack ... Biola blitzed visiting Concordia, thanks additionally to Tyus Parrish-Tillman's 14 points, nine boards and three blocked shots. Maximo Milovich added a double-double with 11 points and ten rebounds ... In addition to Darren Williams' big night, Hawai'i Hilo also got large production from Carlos Ramsey Jr.'s 24 points and six rebounds, along with the always productive Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones' nine points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Kalique Mitchell had 17 points, five rebounds and four steals for HPU.
MORE CONFERENCE CLASHES THIS WEEK
There are games almost every night this week in the PacWest, beginning with tonight's (Monday) game between Chaminade and Holy Names ... The Silverswords continue their northern California swing with a big game at Dominican on Wednesday. Biola (at Dominican) and Azusa Pacific (at Academy of Art) are two more large games in the Bay Area next Saturday. Point Loma welcomes Holy Names on Saturday and Concordia hosts Fresno Pacific, while other PacWest teams will step outside of conference play — HPU vs. Simon Fraser, Hawai'i Hilo vs. Milligan and Chaminade hosts St. Edward's. HPU and Chaminade will also play Sunday and Monday in the Hoops in Hawai'i Classic, same for Hawai'i Hilo in the Big Island Classic.
