HILO, Hawai`i—Hawai`i Hilo worked in upset mode for 26 minutes of a Saturday afternoon Pacific West Conference basketball game against No. 14 nationally ranked Hawai`i Pacific, but the Sharks owned the final 14 minutes of play to escape with a 102-88 win at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The red-hot Sharks moved to 18-1 on the season and to 10-1 in conference action, but not before having to fight off a spirited Vulcan effort in front of 517 fans. UHH dropped to 4-6 in the PacWest and is now 6-10 overall.

Parker Farris led the Vulcans with 26 points. He was joined in double figures by Eric Wattree (15), Brian Ishola (13), Randan Berinobis (12) and Ryley Callaghan (10). Berinobis paced the rebound effort with eight.

Connor Looney had 22 for HPU and Chauncey Orr flicked in 21. Jordan Martin had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.

The Vulcans led for all but 47 seconds of the first half. They rushed out to a 9-2 lead four minutes in, forcing a HPU timeout. Five points from Berinobis and four from Ishola spearheaded the run. A Farris trey made it 12-4 a few minutes later.

But HPU blitzed back with a 10-0 run of its own to take their first lead of the game at 14-12.  They held one other lead in the first half (17-15) before the Vulcans took control again. Another Farris three-pointer jump-started a UHH run, and his fourth three-ball of the first half with 5:15 left gave the grey and red a 10-point lead (37-27).

As the tension climbed, with technical fouls called in both directions, the Vulcans went into the locker room with a 48-41 lead. Farris had 15 at intermission while he and his teammates hit 8-of-15 three-pointers.

The Sharks began the second half at the free throw line (technical foul after first half buzzer) and carried the momentum into a 11-3 run. They grabbed their first lead of the second half on a Clayton Guy basket less than four minutes in (52-51). When Darius Johnson-Wilson banked one home at the 14:02 mark to give UHH a 59-58 edge, that would be the last home team lead of the night.

HPU would go on a 14-4 run over the next five minutes to take a 72-63 margin and the Vulcans would be playing from behind the rest of the afternoon. Hawai`i Pacific would outscore their island counterparts 61-40 in the second half.

After knocking down eight treys in the first period, UHH was just 4-of-16 in that category the rest of the way. They also cooled to 39 percent accuracy from the field after the break.

Hawai`i will now hit the road for two weeks, next returning home on Feb. 9 against Fresno Pacific.