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The Pacific West Conference basketball awards were announced on Tuesday, with a number of athletes and staff from schools around Hawaii hearing their name called.
On the men’s side, Hawaii Hilo’s Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year after leading the Vulcans in points, rebounds, steals and blocked shots. He was also the sixth-highest scorer in the PacWest with a 17.4 average.
Tait-Jones was also named to the All-PacWest first team. He was joined by teammates Darren Williams and Donald McHenry, who earned third-team honors. Chaminade’s Zach McIntire and Isaac Amaral-Artharee were also named to the third team.
For the women, Hawaii Pacific’s Tavia Rowell was named the PacWest Newcomer of the Year after leading the Sharks with 17.1 points and six boards a game.
Hawaii Hilo women’s basketball coach David Kaneshiro was named the PacWest Coach of the Year after leading the Vulcans, picked to finish ninth in the PacWest Preseason Poll, to their first PacWest Conference Championship berth since 2014 with an 11-8 conference record.
Vulcans leading scorer Mandi Kawaha was named to the All-PacWest first team, while HPU’s Rowell was named to the All-PacWest third team.