Four-game swing in Utah/California begins at Dixie State
 
Hawai`i Hilo (6-10/4-6 PWC) @ Dixie State (13-5/10-2 PWC), Saturday (Jan. 28, 7:30 pm MST), Burns Arena (St. George, Utah)
Live Stream/Live Stats/Radio Broadcast at www.dixieathletics.com.
 
Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans dropped a pair of home games last week, falling to Holy Names (89-85) and No. 14 nationally ranked Hawaii Pacific (102-88). UHH played the first without the services of Brian Ishola (flu) and with just eight men in uniform. Against the Sharks, the Vulcans led for all but 47 seconds of the first half before the PWC's top team rallied in the second half for the win.

Heckuva Road Trip: The Vulcans now embark on a rigorous four-game road trip that begins with a Saturday night game at Dixie State. That's followed by games in southern California at California Baptist, Azusa Pacific and Point Loma. UHH won't be back home until Feb. 9 versus Fresno Pacific (Vulcan Gym).

Hurts the Same Either Way: UHH played teams at both ends of the PacWest spectrum last week at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, taking on Holy Names (bottom of the standings) and Hawaii Pacific (top). While the Vulcans were upset victims against the Hawks, they almost pulled off the surprise of the year in having the Sharks on the ropes. In the end, both will count as losses in the PacWest standings as the Vulcans fell to 4-6 in conference play and 6-10 overall.

At the Halfway Point, Still Just a Half Game Back: At the halfway juncture of the conference season, the Vulcans are still just one-half game back of the sixth place spot and final Pacific West Confernce tournament slot. Azusa Pacific is just above them at 5-6, while Fresno Pacific has joined UHH in a seventh-place tie at 4-6. Hawaii Hilo will play both of those teams in the next two weeks, and eight other squads in the second half of the campaign.

News and Notes: Senior guard Parker Farris leads the Vulcans and is second in the PacWest in scoring at 23.3 points a game. That also ranks eighth on the NCAA Division II list.  He is second in the league in free throw percentage (.897), nailing 87 of 97 attempts. His 3.0 three-pointers a game is third in the league. He has scored in double figures in every game except one (Hawaii). He scored 32 in the season opener against Simon Fraser, had 30 versus Seattle Pacific and 36 at BYU-Hawaii...North Dakota State transfer Brian Ishola averages 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds a game, the latter leading the team. He is fourth in the PacWest Conference in boards per game. He has five double-doubles on the season...Ryley Callaghan (10.1) and Darius Johnson-Wilson (11.0) are also in double figures...Callaghan leads the squad with 61 assists on the season...The Vulcans are shooting .755 from the free throw line, the third most accurate mark in the PacWest...Farris and Callaghan are the only Vulcans to start in all 16 games this season.

Holy Night: Down to eight players and playing without Brian Ishola (flu), the Vulcans faltered late in the second half and were upset by Holy Names at home on Thursday, 89-85. Ishola, who came into the week as the leading rebounder in the PacWest Conference, was missed although Randan Berinobis picked up the board slack by pulling down 11 to go with his 17 points. Parker Farris led his team with 28 points and Darius Johnson-Wilson had 19, but the Hawks scored 58 second-half points and had five players in double figures to win their second game in a row, but just third of the season (3-14).

Near Shark Tank: Hawaii Hilo had No. 14 ranked Hawaii Pacific on the ropes for a good portion of Saturday afternoon's game at the Civic, but the Sharks rallied for a spirited 102-88 victory. UHH led for almost the entire first half but the PacWest leader stole the momentum after intermission to claim the win. HPU hit 24 of 28 shots from the floor and used back-breaking runs of 11-3 and 14-4 to pull away from the game Vulcans. Parker Farris led UHH with 26 points, while Randan Berinobis was close to a double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Parker is Player of the Week: Sharpshooting guard Parker Farris was named the Pacific West Conference men's basketball Player of the Week on Jan. 16. Farris poured in a career-high 36 points in Hilo's 93-90 win over BYU-Hawaii. The McKinleyville, Calif. native made four three-pointers, hit 8-of-9 free throw attempts and hit 12-of-20 shots from the field. He scored 22 of his points in the second half, including two free throws with eight seconds remaining to help seal the win. He has scored over 30 points three times this season. His 36 points was the fifth highest total in Vulcan school history.

Randan Rebounds: 6-4 junior Randan Berinobis pulled down a school and conference record 24 rebounds during a Dec. 29 win over Northwest Indian College. The local product (Hilo High School) had nine boards on the offensive end and 15 defensively. His remarkable performance broke the previous single-game UHH best of 20, shared by Marcus Owens in 1996 vs. Chaminade and Gene Arceneaux in 1986 versus Hawaii Pacific. Berinobis' total also broke the PacWest mark of 22 set by Chaminade's Kuany Kuany in 2014. "Randan pulled us through in that game with his energy," said his head coach GE Coleman. "His effort was huge. Rebounding is about effort and Randan brings it." Berinobis was named the Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week for his efforts, and he finished fifth in the voting for the D2 Hero National Basketball Player of the Week.
  
Head Coach GE Coleman: Vulcan head coach GE Coleman (34-58) is in his 4th season as the leader of the program. Inheriting a team that had won just six games he has steadily built the team into a PWC tournament contender. Prior to arriving on the Big Island, Coleman was the associate head coach at Central Washington for six seasons, and an assistant with the Wildcats for another five years prior to that. He was an assistant for two seasons at Eastern Washington. His assistant, Mark McLaughlin, is a former CWU standout who twice led the nation in scoring at over 27 points a game.
 
A Look Back: Last year, the Vulcans began the year on a horrific nine-game losing streak, but righted the ship enough to finish 9-11 in conference play (9-15 overall), just missing the Pac West Conference tournament by one game.

Trailblazer Times: Dixie State sits in third place in the PacWest Conference, but with a 10-2 record they are only a half-game back of first-place Hawaii Pacific. The Trailblazers are ranked No. 7 in this week's D2SIDA west region media poll with a 13-5 overall mark. They picked up a pair of solid wins last week, knocking off Concordia on the road (67-64) and Azusa Pacific at home (67-62). Marcus Bradley, a 6-6 forward, was named the PacWest Defender of the Week for his work in the victories. Dixie State's only two conference losses were both nail-biters on the road, falling to APU 104-103 in overtime and to Point Loma (68-64). The Trailblazers are a perfect 7-0 at home this year in Burns Arena. 6-4 forward Trevor Hill leads a balanced Dixie attack with 14.4 points and 7.1 rebounds a contest. Josh Fuller, a 6-6 Weber State transfer, is next at 13.2 points a game and he busted out for 30 points against defending regional champion Western Oregon. Dixie State leads the all-time series versus the Vulcans (13-4), and they won last year's meeting in Hilo, 97-79. In 2014-15, the two teams split games, each winning at home. 

Pacific West Conference Standings
Team                                  PWC               Overall
Hawai`i Pacific                     10-1                   18-1
California Baptist                   9-1                   17-1
Dixie State                            10-2                   13-5
Chaminade                              8-4                   12-7
Concordia                               6-4                   10-8
Point Loma                             6-5                   10-8
Azusa Pacific                          5-6                   10-11
Hawai`i Hilo                           4-6                   6-10
Fresno Pacific                         4-6                   4-13
Dominican                               4-4                   5-13
Academy of Art                      3-7                   4-12
BYU-Hawaii                           3-8                   5-12
Notre Dame de Namur            2-9                   4-13
Holy Names                            2-9                   3-15
 
(through games played Jan. 22)