Saturday, January 12, 2002
[ DIVISION II SPORTS ]
When the rust hit the road, the road won. Hilo picks up road
win in LaieBy Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comHawaii-Hilo answered any questions about its ability to win on the road last night, beating Brigham Young-Hawaii 81-74 in Laie. The Seasiders had not played in 20 games and it showed, but it was not the deciding factor.
"We were not playing like we were three weeks ago," Seasiders coach Ken Wagner said. "Maybe it will pay off later in the regular season."
Hilo improved to 4-0 in the Pacific West Conference, while BYUH dropped its opener. The teams will tangle again tonight at 7:30 in Laie.
Hilo's Scott Prather won the first round in the battle between the conference's most visible point guards, carrying his team at times with 27 points on four 3-pointers and 8-for-14 shooting from the field. That shooting kept his team a step ahead of the Seasiders for most of the game, but it was the easy ones that closed them out.
Yuta Tabuse scored seven points and dished out eight assists for BYUH but was not asked to carry the load that Prather was.
Prather hit four free throws in the final minute to turn the three-point contest into the easy victory the final score indicated. David LaQua added two more.
Kelii Naihe led the Seasiders with 23 points, followed by Scott Salisbury with 16. LaQua played what Law called "his best game all year" by pouring in 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
The Seasiders had a chance to defend their home court with as much as 1:39 left when they pulled to within a single point and stopped Hilo from scoring.
But Hilo pressured Tabuse into a leaner while pinned against the baseline. The shot fell short. Prather hit two free throws, then took the point as the Hilo defense came up big one last time. The Vulcans survived three 3-point attempts in a single Seasider possession.
Although they had not played in three weeks, the Seasiders only committed 13 turnovers to Hilo's 12, but they were held to 37.7 percent shooting from the field while letting Hilo make half of its shots.
The Vulcans held Alexus Foyle, the conference's leading scorer coming in, to 16 points on 7-for-20 shooting. Law does not expect to see that tonight.
"He is not going to miss those shots again."
Chaminade 81, Hawaii Pacific 78: Igor Beljanski's layup with 36 seconds remaining gave Chaminade the lead for good in the see-saw final minutes last night at Mid-Pacific Institute.
Albert Powell, who had 26 points and six 3-pointers, then iced the win with a pair of free throws for the final margin.
The game featured a roaring comeback in the second half that saw Hawaii Pacific rebound from a 14-point deficit to take the lead at 2:53 remaining on a pair of free throws from Nick Spajic. The two teams traded leads and drama for the rest of the contest.
Hawaii Pacific
BYU-Hawaii
Chaminade
U.H. Hilo