HILO, Hawai'i – For the second time in less than two weeks, the Chaminade University men's basketball team was victimized by a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
On Jan. 19, it was Nick Cary of Academy of Art as the horn sounded. Saturday, it was Darius Johnson-Wilson who delivered heartbreak, burying a trey with 0.6 seconds left to play to lift Hawai'i-Hilo past Chaminade, 88-85, Saturday at the Ah Fook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
The loss dropped the Silverswords to 8-10 overall and 5-7 in the Pacific West Conference. The Vulcans (10-8, 6-6), with whom the 'Swords were tied with in the conference standings heading into the contest, took a one-game lead over Chaminade. The 'Swords also fell 2 ½ games behind Point Loma with eight games remaining for the sixth and final spot in March's PacWest Tournament in Irvine, Calif.
Kevin Hu dropped 31 points in defeat, his second 30-plus point performance in three games. He went 10-for-13 from the floor, a perfect 3-of-3 from long range and also ripped down seven rebounds.
Kuany Kuany added 20 points and eight boards.
Tre Johnson had a team-high 24 points and 10 rebounds for UH-Hilo, followed by Johnson-Wilson with 21.
The first half was tightly contested with four ties and eight lead changes. So not surprisingly, the score was knotted at 47 at halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, the Vulcans briefly captured the lead before the Silverswords got it back on Hu's 3-pointer which made it 52-51 barely 90 seconds in. Then midway through the second half, Hu and
Oscar Pedroso combined for 10 points during a 17-6 run, capped by
Kiran Shastri's 3-pointer, which made it 79-68 with 7:45 left, Chaminade's largest lead of the game.
But the 'Swords went cold from the floor, getting only one field goal to drop over the next six minutes. UHH capitalized on the drought, outscoring Chaminade 15-2, taking an 83-81 lead on Johnson's 3-point play with 3:51 left.
Over the next two and a half minutes, the 'Swords could only get two possessions as the Vulcans ran valuable time off the clock with the assistance from four offensive rebounds. Chaminade then took advantage of a Johnson turnover as Kuany's jumper tied it at 83 with 1:10 left.
Vandyon Lockett then hit a bucket to give the Vulcans an 85-83 lead with 24 seconds left, but Hu was fouled on the other end and calmly sank two free throws to tie the game, setting into motion Johnson-Wilson's heroics for the home team.
Chaminade shot just under 52 percent in the game from the floor while holding UH-Hilo to less than 48 percent. The 'Swords were outrebounded, 41-35, while hitting nine triples to the Vulcan's five. But the telling tale was at the foul line where the 'Swords were only 16-of-29 while UH-Hilo made 15-of-22.
The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak against the Vulcans, dating back to March 2009.
The Silverswords return home on Thursday when they host 17
th-ranked BYU-Hawai'i with live audio streaming available on GoSwords.com at 7:30 p.m.
