HILO, Hawai'i – The Hawai'i Hilo men's basketball team ended the home season slate with a bang, defeating Fresno Pacific, 74-65, in overtime Saturday evening at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium while celebrating its lone senior Darren Williams as well as the newest member of the Vulcans 1,000-point club.
The Vulcans battled back from a six-point halftime deficit but the Sunbirds scored the final four points through 1:25 of regulation to send the game into an extra five-minute period.
From there, everything came together for Hawai'i Hilo as five different players helped pour in 14 points to go 80.0 percent from the field while FPU shot just 1 of 8 with two turnovers.
In addition to the celebration of Williams on Senior Night, sophomore Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored his 1,000th career point in front of the home crowd. Entering Saturday's game, Tait-Jones needed 18 points to reach the career milestone and he got it with two free throws in the overtime period.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones led the Vulcans with 22 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. He now ranks No. 6 in the program's career scoring totals while ranking No. 5 in career free throws and No. 7 in career rebounds.
- Darren Williams finished with 19 points, six rebounds and eight assists. In the program's career rankings, Williams is No. 5 in 3-pointers, No. 6 in assists and No. 7 in steals.
- The Sunbirds committed 18 turnovers and had just one takeaway as the Vulcans had nine turnovers with 10 steals.
- Kyle Monk led FPU with 22 points and seven rebounds. Darrin Person and Spencer Heimerdinger followed with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
WHAT'S NEXT
Hawai'i Hilo improved to 16-5 overall, 12-4 PacWest while Fresno Pacific moved to a 7-16 record (4-12 PacWest).
The Vulcans will hit the road to close out their season on a four-game slate against Azusa Pacific, Concordia University Irvine, Biola and Point Loma Nazarene.
The PacWest Championships is set for March 2-4 on O'ahu at Chaminade University of Honolulu.
AMONGST THE BEST IN THE WEST
Hawai'i Hilo came in ranked at No. 8 in the latest Division II Sports Information Directors Association (D2SIDA) West Region Media Poll released earlier on Monday.
At the top was Point Loma Nazarene with Azusa Pacific tied with the Vulcans at the sixth spot. Academy of Art followed at No. 8 and Biola at No. 10.
The D2SIDA regional poll is released every Monday, followed by the national poll every Tuesday.
Each region has six representatives (two per conference) who comprise the regional poll. The national poll has 16 voters — two from each region. The poll is in its ninth season of existence and is recognized by the NCAA.
