Okesene Ale scored 26 points, and Pablo Coro added 24 to lead Brigham Young University-Hawaii’s men’s basketball team to a 91-86 win over the University of Hawaii at Hilo Saturday night at Laie, Oahu. Okesene Ale scored 26 points, and
Okesene Ale scored 26 points, and Pablo Coro added 24 to lead Brigham Young University-Hawaii’s men’s basketball team to a 91-86 win over the University of Hawaii at Hilo Saturday night at Laie, Oahu.
It was the final Pacific West Conference regular-season game for both teams, with the Vulcans finishing their season 4-13 in the PacWest and 6-19 overall.
BYUH led 45-39 at the intermission. But the Vulcans rallied and built a nine-point lead with 9 minutes, 25 seconds left in the contest before the Seasiders regained the lead down the stretch.
Senior Mychael Hearn hit a 3-pointer with 3:01 remaining to give the Vulcans their final lead, at 80-79. But the Seasiders took back the lead for good at 81-80 on Ale’s two free throws at the 2:46 mark. Ale then made four more free throws, and Coro drilled four straight in the final 2:14 to hold off the Vulcans.
Down the stretch, BYUH went 12-for-14 from the free throw line while UH-Hilo made 4 of 6.
Ale, a former Kahuku High standout, made 7 of 12 field goals, 5 of 7 3-pointers and 7 of 8 free throws. Coro sank 7 of 14 field goals, 4 of 8 treys and 6 of 6 free throws. Teammate Taylor Maughan added 13 points.
Hearn led UH-Hilo with 22 points. He made 8 of 13 field goals, both of his 3-point attempts and 4 of 7 free throws.
Senior Kiel Myers followed Hearn with 17 points. Senior Michael Melonas had 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Junior Oxone-Ross Mavungu added 10 points, making 4 of 5 field goals and 2 of 3 free throws.
Seniors Paul Batausa and CJ Brown chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively.
The biggest difference for BYUH was its clutch free-throw shooting (21 of 28) and 3-point shooting (12 of 23). The Vulcans hit 7 of 15 treys and 21 of 31 free throws to keep it close and outrebounded BYUH 40-30.
The Seasiders shot 48 percent (29 of 60) from the field while the Vulcans shot 46.8 percent (29 of 62).
“It was a good game, back and forth,” UH-Hilo coach Jeff Law said. “In the last four minutes we held them without a field goal, but we kept fouling and couldn’t make enough free throws.
“But I’m really proud of the effort. The seniors came out and played smart. We played better as a team, and the guys coming off the bench did a good job. Over here, they make you play a little different and we gave ourselves a chance to win. If we could have gotten an offensive rebound or stopped fouling toward the end, we might have pulled it out.”
The Seasiders (15-11 overall) finished the PacWest regular season with a 12-6 record and earned a berth in the inaugural PacWest Men’s Basketball Tournament at Azusa Pacific. The six-team tourney runs Thursday through Saturday in Azusa, Calif.
The tournament champion earns the conference’s automatic berth in the 64-team NCAA Division II tournament.
BYUH will be joined in the tournament by Dixie State (14-3 PacWest, 19-6 overall), Grand Canyon (14-3, 23-5), Chaminade (14-3, 17-8), Dominican (11-6, 15-10) and Academy of Art (7-10, 9-15).
For a complete PacWest tournament schedule, go to pacificwestsports.org.
