LAS VEGAS, Nev. (December 20, 2025) – Men's basketball put together one of their best performances of the season on Saturday, blowing out the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans by a score of 89-69. With the win, the Tars improve to 7-4 on the year while the Vulcans remain winless at 0-8.
From the tip, it was clear that the Tars had adjusted well to the west coast time zone as they jumped out to an 11-0 lead.
Jah Nze was hot, knocking down two triples and a layup before the first media timeout.
Ryan Renfro, meanwhile, showed tremendous hustle with a pair of offensive boards and two assists as well.
After the Vulcans got on the board with a pair of free throws, Rollins shifted their focus from the deep ball to paint shots. They used their swarming defense to create turnovers which led to layups, as well as the big bodies of Renfro and
Ricky Ghedini to create easy layups.
Jackson Gaffney was the next Tar to step up, using a mix of dribble-drives and a nice three-point stroke to record seven straight Rollins points, putting them up 31-13 at the third media timeout.
The next batch of Rollins possessions included a number of backdoor cuts, pick-and-rolls, and of course, the old reliable three-pointer. Even the big men were getting in on the action from deep as both
Mayson Quartlebaum and
William Jobe knocked 'em down. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, it was 48-27.
Marshall Klug started the second half with a four-point play as Rollins kept pouring it on. When Quartlebaum made a nice dribble-drive to score a layup at the 15:32 mark, the Tars held a 31-point lead, doubling up the Vulcans at 62-31.
When the clock went below ten minutes, the Tars' next twelve points came on four threes, including two from Ghedini, as they stayed hot from deep.
With the game well in hand late, head coach
Kevin Hogan was able to get his bench players some valuable playing time.
Cheo James had a beautiful backdoor cut, scoring a reverse layup off a perfect pass from
Michael Kalina late. While the Vulcans did go on a bit of a run late to make the score more respectable, the Tars held on for the comfortable win.
Nze led the scoring with 22 points on 8-13 shooting including six made threes. Renfro stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, nine rebounds, and five assists. A total of ten Tars scored in the match. The team was 15-32 (47%) from three.
Rollins will turnaround and play in 24 hours as they take on Colorado School of Mines from the South Point Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 pm Eastern on Sunday, December 21.
