Aaron Valdes shot to the top of the Big West scoring chart with a 33-point performance against UH Hilo on Tuesday.

Valdes’ 15 field goals and 20 attempts in UH’s 86-67 win were career highs for the 6-foot-5 junior. He ended the night one point shy of the career best he set against Cal State Northridge in January and was three made field goals short of the UH single-game record shared by Gavin Smith (1977) and Tony Davis (1959).

“It was just an open zone (by Hilo), so guys were just finding me in open spots along the baseline,” Valdes said. “It was open the whole game. Isaac (Fleming), Rod (Bobbitt) and Q (Quincy Smith) were doing a good job finding us. We found Mike (Thomas) and Stef (Jovanovic) down there a couple times. So, it was just … getting good ball movement out there.”

His outburst against the Vulcans marked the third 30-point performance of his career and raised his season scoring average to 19 points per game. He enters Saturday’s matchup with Hawaii Pacific University one point clear of UC Santa Barbara’s Michael Bryson atop the Big West.

Valdes is shooting 58 percent overall with 11 3-pointers, 31 attempts and 5.6 rebounds per game.

>> Class: Junior

>> Major: Family Resources

>> Hometown: Whittier, Calif.

>> High School: La Serna

>> Quick Fact: Scored in double figures in 11 of UH’s past 12 games, averaging 16.9 points in that stretch.