The UH Hilo Vulcans beat the Dominican Penguins 86-78 at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. This extends the team’s winning streak to six games, improving 10-4 overall and 6-1 in the Pacific West Conference while the Penguins fall 5-11 overall and 2-7 in the PacWest.
The Penguins held the lead for most of the first half of the game. However the Vulcans made a comeback during the last minute of the second quarter when freshman Donald McHenry made a layup that gave the Vulcans the go ahead point of 38-37. Quickly after, Max Kunnert stole the ball which he passed to Darren Williams who got fouled and made a successful free throw that solidified the score heading into halftime UHH up 39-37.
Freshman Max Kunnert sank in the first basket of the second half, landing a three-pointer to increase UHH’s lead, 42-37. The Penguins then took the lead back from the Vulcans which they held for a little over five minutes. DU broke away by as much as seven points before the UHH offense came back. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored the leading basket with two successful free throws (64-63) then Steven Hubbell stole the ball from the Penguins’ possession, setting up Jamie Strong who downed his first three-pointer of the game (67-63).
The Vulcans increased their lead, breaking away with their largest of the game at 83-73 with 36 seconds to spare. They ended the game with three good free throws resulting in the final 86-78 score.
The Vulcans will next hit the road next where they will face Azusa Pacific, Concordia Irvine, Point Loma and Biola. The Vulcans are currently No. 1 in the PacWest Conference standings and will have to defend that standing with 11 road games.
To view the men’s basketball schedule, CLICK HERE.
Photo credit: UH Hilo