Murder's Row Awaits Vulcans on SoCal Road Trip
 
Hawai`i Hilo (6-14/5-8 PWC) @Dixie State (16-6\13-2PWC), Saturday, Feb. 10, 7:30 pm MT, Burns Arena, St. George, Utah.
Hawai`i Hilo @Concordia (14-9/8-7 PWC), Monday, Feb. 12, 7:30 pm PT, CU Arena, Irvine, Calif.
Hawai`i Hilo @California Baptist (18-4/11-3 PWC), Tuesday, Feb. 13, 7 pm PT, Special Events Center, Riverside, Calif.
Hawai`i Hilo @ Azusa Pacific (15-8/11-4 PWC), Thursday, Feb. 15, 7:30 pm PT, Felix Events Center, Azusa, Calif.                           
Hawai`i Hilo @ Point Loma (19-7/13-4 PWC), Saturday, Feb. 17, 2 pm PT, Golden Gymnasium, San Diego, Calif.
Live Stream/Live Stats at www.hiloathletics.com 
 
Hilo Headlines: Five of the top six teams in the Pacific West Conference await Hawai`i Hilo on this grueling trip through Utah and Southern California. Those five teams have a combined conference record of 58-20, and the Vulcans will play them all during a span of eight days.
 
Got Them Right Where We Want Them: If this trip seems daunting, the other side of the picture says that coach GE Coleman's team is comfortable with their backs against the wall. Last week, adding two more starters to the unable to perform list (Trey Ingram and Eric Wattree), the Vulcans pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a pair of victories over Fresno Pacific (98-85) and Dominican (68-66).

Hilo Reigns Three's: Playing without Ingram and Wattree, with just nine players in uniform, the Vulcans pulled off the surprise of the PacWest season with a record-breaking three-point barrage against the Sunbirds. UH Hilo hit TWENTY-ONE treys, a Vulcan and PacWest record, with six different players knocking down long range shots. Freshman Will Burghardt had seven (7-of-10), the third highest total in school notes. Fellow rookie Cleo Cain hit four-of-five three's and both had 23 points. Ryley Callaghan added five-of-six behind the arch and had 21 points and a career-high 11 assists. Jared Roffler had a career high of 11 rebounds in the game.

Burghardt's Bombs Leads to Award: For his long range accuracy, Will Burghardt was named the PacWest Freshman of the Week. In addition to his 23 points against Fresno Pacific, he also had 12 points and two big three's in the second half in the win over Dominican.

Randan Rules: With his teammates dropping like flies, senior Randan Berinobis, who has played in every contest this year, rolled out two of the best games of his career, back-to-back. In the win over Dominican, he came just two assists short of a triple-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Three nights later, he smashed his career best with 31 points in the loss to Hawaii Pacific, hitting five-of-seven shots from three-point range, 9-of-16 from the field and eight-of-ten at the line. He also had nine rebounds and three assists. In those two games, he re-wrote all of his career highs (except his school record of 24 rebounds set last year) from his four years in a Vulcan uniform. His previous scoring best was 17 points.

Shark Frenzy: With Ryley Callaghan out for Tuesday's game against Hawaii Pacific, the Vulcans had just eight players in uniform. But again, only a late run by the Sharks, after the Vulcans had cut the lead to seven points, secured the victory for HPU. Maikai Gahan hit four three-pointers for a career-high 12 points and Devin Johnson had 19 points and nine rebounds. 

When it Rains, it Pours: The Vulcans and head coach GE Coleman have had a hard-luck year like no other in terms of injuries and just plain bad luck. Their top four scorers on the season have missed time at one point or another this year because of injury or illness. Make that five players when you add in Brian Ishola, (hamstring) last year's second leading scorer (15.5) and leading rebounder (8.9). Senior guard Ryley Callaghan (ribs) missed games in December and was held out of the Feb. 6 game at Hawaii Pacific (PWC suspension), Eric Wattree (illness) has sat out the last four games, Devin Johnson (ankle) missed two games in January, and post Arnold Silva (illness) like Ishola, is sitting out the entire season as a red-shirt. And now the ultimate blow arrives as leading scorer Trey Ingram will be sidelined for the rest of the year with a broken wrist. Freshman guard Will Burghardt is now questionable after getting hurt against HPU. Additionally, Coleman lost Denhym Brooke at the break (grades), who was averaging 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and was second in the PacWest in blocked shots (25), along with seventh man Cameron Howell and shooter Mike Golden.
 
Coleman's Quotes: "I have been around basketball a long time, going back to hanging out with my Dad's teams when I was a little kid at Central Washington. I have never experienced anything like this in terms of injuries. There are life lessons to learn from this of course, that is what we are trying to focus on. You have to just keep getting up every morning and bring your lunch bucket to work. Our guys are really mentally tough."
 
Trey's Treys: Senior guard Trey Ingram had a final game to remember when he busted out for a career-high 33 points against Holy Names on January 18, hitting 6-of-11 three-point attempts. He also had seven rebounds, three steals and four assists in the monster effort. A three-year starter at St. Martin's University (Lacey, Wash.), Ingram's previous career-best came during his sophomore season against Concordia (Ore.), 28 points. He had tallied 25 points twice as a Vulcan against Fresno Pacific and Tampa.

Stat Story: Senior guard Trey Ingram leads the Vulcans in scoring at 16.8 points per game, with Ryley Callaghan next at (13.6). Post Devin Johnson is in double figures (11.1) and is second on the Vulcans in rebounds (6.2). He also has 20 blocked shots. Randan Berinobis paces the Vulcans in rebounds at 6.9 per game and after his 31 point outburst, boosted his scoring average to 9.8. Callaghan has 70 assists, Ingram 54.
 
PacWest Listings: The Vulcans will truly miss Trey Ingram, and the PacWest statistics bear that out. The guard leads the conference in minutes played (34.7), is fifth in three-point percentage (.376), fourth in scoring (16.8), sixth in three-pointers made (38), fifth in free throw percentage (.836) and tenth in assists (54). Ryley Callaghan is fourth in free throw accuracy (.852) and third in three-point marksmanship (385). He is tied with Ingram for three's per game (2.5). As a team, the Vulcans are now tied for the top spot in the PacWest in three-pointers made per game (9.5) with California Baptist. They are fifth in free throw percentage (.727).
 
Top 25 Love: Two of UH Hilo's wins have come against teams in the Top 25. The Vulcans are 2-0 in such games this season, having topped Western Washington earlier this year (then ranked No. 19) and No. 22 Concordia. For sure, it is the first time in recent memory that UH Hilo would have two wins over Top 25 teams.
 
SoCal Sentences: The Vulcans head into their toughest road trip of the season by far, beginning with a Saturday contest at Dixie State. The Trailblazers, playing for a final season in the PacWest before moving into the RMAC, lead second-place California Baptist by 1.5 games and they are currently on a 10-game winning streak. They are 6-1 at home this year and lead the all-time series with UH Hilo, 15-4. Concordia will have revenge on their minds when they host the Vulcans in Irvine on Monday. The Eagles lost to UHH in Hilo on Dec. 4 (90-84). Now at 8-8 in the PacWest, Concordia has a half-game lead over Academy of Art for the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament. They have a modest two-game win streak and are 7-3 this year in the CU Arena. The Eagles have a 3-2 all-time lead in the series vs. the Vulcans. California Baptist hosts UH Hilo in a make-up of a rained out game in Hilo back in early December. The Lancers are 18-4 overall and have won five in a row. In their final season at Division II, CBU will host the conference tournament the first week of March. CBU leads the all-time series heading into the final regular season match-up between the two teams, 10-0. Azusa Pacific is 11-4 in the PacWest and is 7-1 at home. After starting the year 4-4, they won seven of eight games to turn their season around. The Cougars lead the all-time series vs. UHH, 6-3. The Vulcans and Sea Lions of Point Loma just met two weeks ago in Hilo with the red-hot Sea Lions winning, 85-62. PLNU has won five in a row and nine of their last ten. They are 10-3 in Golden Gymnasium this year and have moved into third place in the PacWest. They lead the all-time series vs. the Vulcans, 7-5.

A Look Back: UH Hilo finished 10-16 last season and were 8-12 in the PacWest. Senior guard Parker Farris averaged 23.3 points a game and was a Second Team All-PacWest pick. The Vulcans played most of the season with just eight players.
 
Around the Loop: Dixie State (13-2) holds a 1.5 game lead over California Baptist (11-3) in the PacWest standings. The Trailblazers are second in the region behind Western Oregon (21-1) with California Baptist fourth and Azusa Pacific  tenth.
 
Looking ahead: After five games in eight days on the road, the Vulcans return home for their final two games against Chaminade (Feb. 22) and Hawaii Pacific (Feb. 24).
 
Head Coach Vulcan head coach GE Coleman begins his fifth season in 2017-18 as the leader of the program. 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.
 
For more information, contact sports information director Russ Blunck at blunckr@hawaii.edu.