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Season
| December 1, 2007 Akana Leads Overtime Win
Ellensburg, WA—Junior Trenson Akana scored on a put-back with three seconds remaining in overtime to give the 20th-ranked Brigham Young University Hawaii men’s basketball team a hard-fought 102-101 victory over host Central Washington in the championship game of the Tarp It Tip-off Classic tonight to improve to 2-0 for the season. Akana’s game-winner thwarted a second-half rally by the Wildcats that saw them come back from a 53-43 BYU–Hawaii halftime lead to send the game to overtime. BYU–Hawaii led by as many as 13 points in the first half but the Wildcats came out hot to open the second half, hitting six of their first eight shots from the field, and took the lead less than four minutes into the period on a three-pointer by Matt Penoncello. The two squads were tied eight times and saw the lead change hands seven times over the next 12 minutes until the Seasiders took the lead at 82-81 with 4:34 to play. BYU–Hawaii extended the lead to six points, at 91-85, with just under two minutes to play and appeared headed to the win in regulation. However, Central Washington scored on a tip-in and one of two free throws to cut the lead to 91-88 with 1:03 on the clock. A Seasider turnover gave the Wildcats a chance to tie but Penoncello missed a three-pointer and Akana grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 27 seconds left. Akana made one of two from the line and a Nate Jackson lay-up pulled the Wildcats within two. BYU–Hawaii’s Corey Nielson went to the free throw line with 11 seconds left and he, too, made only one of the two charity shots to give the Seasiders a 93-90 lead. Jake Beitinger, who led all scorers with 30 points, connected on a three-pointer with five seconds left to tie the game and Akana’s last second shot was off to send the game to overtime. In the overtime period Jeremy Brown opened the scoring for the Seasiders with one of two free throws but a Beitinger bucket gave the Wildcats the lead. Nielson responded with a lay-up for the Seasiders followed by a steal and lay-up by Brown to put BYU–Hawaii on top 98-95 with 1:43 to play. Brandon Foote hit a jumper for the Wildcats followed by a lay-up by Penoncello to give Central Washington a 99-98 lead with 53 seconds on the clock. Jermaine Odjegba made it 100-99 Seasiders with a jumper at the 31 second mark but Beitinger answered with a dunk nine seconds later to give the Wildcats their final lead at 101-100. Following a Central Washington timeout, Brown missed a jumper with eight seconds to play but Odjegba snared the rebound. His follow shot was off as well but Akana came through with the offensive board and winning basket. A desperation three-pointer by the Wildcats was off at the buzzer and the Seasiders came away with the win. Akana shot 5-5 from three-point range, 8-12 from the field, and 7-8 from the line in scoring a career-high 28 points to lead the Seasiders. His seven rebounds, including two key offensive rebounds late in the game, were also a career high and he played 42 minutes in the game without committing a single turnover. Lucas Alves scored 22 points despite being limited to just 27 minutes of playing time by foul trouble. Odjegba finished with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds for BYU–Hawaii. Paul Peterson scored 11 points before fouling out and Nielson matched his 11 and dished out a game-high eight assists. Brown tallied ten points off the bench for the Seasiders. In addition to Beitinger’s 30, the Wildcats got 20 points from Penoncello, 16 from Tyler Monk, and 12 from Jackson as they fell to 3-2 for the year. Beitinger pulled down ten rebounds to lead all players. BYU–Hawaii’s next game will be on Tuesday night against Henderson State (AR) in Laie. Tip-off was changed and will now be at 7:00 pm HST.
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