FRESNO, Calif.-- The Azusa Pacific Cougars knocked out the UH Hilo men's basketball team from the PacWest Conference tournament. The Cougars won the quarterfinal game 87-72 in the Special Events Center. 
 
The Vulcans were the No. 7 seed in the PacWest's March Madness, attending the conference tournament for the first time in program history. UHH will cap their season with an overall winning record of 14-13 and 10-9 in conference play.
 
Azusa Pacific (19-8 overall and 15-4 in the PacWest) was the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and is ranked eighth in the NCAA's West Region rankings leading up to the selection show. 
 
"Azusa is a tough team," said head coach Kaniela Aiona. "They have great size, are well coached, and run a good system. They had a good game plan and executed well against us." 
 
The Vulcans began the game with two consecutive baskets by Darren Williams and Donald McHenry. The Cougars started off slow, missing two of their first three trey attempts, until APU's Ken West began to heat up, sinking in two to tie the game 6-6. 
 
The first half proceeded to have four more occasions where the score was tied as both teams were struggling to break away. But Azusa Pacific managed to do just that, going on a 12-point run with 5:25 remaining in the half (33-21). 
 
A back-court buzzer beater by Williams brought the Vulcans back into the game. Williams' trey put his team back in an eight-point grasp of the Cougars (42-34).
 
Despite a tremendous effort displayed by UHH, the Cougars kept a comfortable lead. 
 
APU successfully thwarted the Vulcans' attempts to get something going, extending their lead to as much as 15 points before time ran out (87-72). 
 
"I'm proud of our guys," said Aiona. "They left it all out on the floor. I can't speak enough of how proud I am of this group. We battled all year long."
 
"This was good experience for us," said Williams. "We have a young team and this will be valuable experience for us moving forward."
 
"It's an honor to be here and we are very thankful," said PacWest Freshman of the Year Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones. "Very special for our program to be here. We are going to get back to it and we will be here again."
 
"It was a blessing to be here," said McHenry. "It was good to be here and get this experience and now we know what the environment is like for when we come back."
 
Three-Point Shots…UHH outshot APU from downtown. The Vulcans shot 37.5 percent while the Cougars were 35.5. Williams (3-for-6) and Ng (2-for-4) were 50 percent from behind the arch.  

Vulcan Leaders…POINTS: McHenry 19, Williams 18, Max Kunnert 12; ASSISTS: Kameron Ng 4 and Tait-Jones 3; REBOUNDS: Kunnert and Tait-Jones 5; Jamie Strong and Williams 3, Erik Borg 2; STEALS: Tait-Jones and Ng.