HILO, Hawai`i—Overcoming a halftime deficit with defense and three-point shooting, Hawai`i Hilo improved to 3-1 in the Pacific West Conference with a 73-65 win over Notre Dame de Namur on Wednesday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The Vulcans are now one of four teams with just one loss in conference play, albeit with a smaller sample size. Azusa Pacific is 6-1, California Baptist is 4-1 and Hawaii Pacific is also 3-1. UH Hilo is now 4-7 overall, while Notre Dame de Namur falls to 2-8 on the season and 1-4 in the PacWest.

UH Hilo, playing in front a holiday break crowd of 611, held the Argonauts to 28 percent shooting in the second half and 25 points. Meanwhile, the Vulcans hit 13 of 27 three-pointers on the night and outscored their visitors in the second half by 12 points.

"We started out slugish, it looked like we hadn't played in two weeks," said head coach GE Coleman of his team, which hadn't played since December 18. "But we really picked up the intensity in the second half, I really liked our energy. It showed on the defensive end, and that translated into points on the offensive end for us as well."

Ryley Callaghan led the home team with 21 points, hitting five of nine shots from three point range. Eric Wattree added 11 points and freshman Cleo Cain came off the bench to tally 10—hitting all three of his shots from the field, including two treys.

Randan Berinobis had a season-high 12 rebounds and added eight points in just 19 minutes because of foul trouble. Devin Johnson also just missed a double-double with eight points and nine boards. Trey Ingram had nine points and seven assists.

"It was a complete team effort," Coleman added. "It wasn't the prettiest game, but I like how everyone contributed."

The Vulcans looked well rested out of the gate, jumping out to a 20-10 lead on the strength of a trio of treys from Callaghan. But the Argonauts quickly answered with a 14-0 run, capped by a Stephen Baity basket to take a 24-20 lead. NDNU would hold that lead through the rest of the half, taking a 40-36 margin into the halftime locker room.

UH Hilo quickly answered after intermission with back-to-back buckets by Johnson to tie the game at 40-40. Consecutive three-pointers by Wattree and Callaghan would give the lead back to the Vulcans with 15:41 to go, for the first time since the first half (49-46).

UHH would never trail again, putting the clamps on the Argos on the defensive end. Back-to-back treys by Cain and Callaghan would give the Vulcans their largest lead of the night at 71-60 before settling for the final count of 73-64.

John Cornett came off the bench to lead the Argos with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Val Wilson was also in double figures with 11 points.

The Vulcans will be back on the court in less than 48 hours, hosting Academy of Art on Friday at the Civic. Start time is 7:30 p.m.