HILO, Hawai`i—The final game of the Hawai`i Hilo 2017-18 men's basketball season was in some ways aa mini picture of the entire season.

It wasn't for lack of effort, but the Vulcans came up a few bullets short during a 97-87 season finale loss to Hawai`i Pacific on Saturday night in front of 845 fans at the Afook-Chinen Auditorium.

UH Hilo, injury-riddled all season, played the Sharks tough for much of the game, only to see their opponents pull away down the stretch. Both teams wrapped up their seasons, with HPU ending at 15-13 overall and 10-10 in the Pacific West Conference, while the Vulcans end at 7-20 on the year and 6-14 in the conference.

Hometown hero Randan Berinobis capped his career with another unforgettable night with 30 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Competing on the same court where he played his prep games at Hilo High School, the senior forward kissed center court as he left the game with seconds to play to a large ovation from the crowd.

"The word warrior is probably overused, but Randan typifies it every game and every practice," said his coach GE Coleman after the game.

Fellow senior Ryley Callaghan joined him in double figures with 14 points, equaling the same total as Devin Johnson and Eric Wattree.  Callaghan also had six assists and Johnson had seven rebounds.

The leading scorer in the PacWest, Niksha Federico, led the Sharks with 26 points and nine rebounds before fouling out late in the game.

The first half of the game featured four ties and six lead changes. Back-to-back three-pointers by Wattree and Callaghan helped give the home team a 46-42 lead at intermission.

Coming out of the locker room, a Berinobis basket gave UH Hilo a 48-42 margin, but the Sharks then slowly started to take control. Two Berinobis free throws a few moments later gave the Vulcans their last lead of the night at 50-49 as the Sharks went on a 19-6 run, never to trail again.

Prior to that run, neither team had led by more than six points the entire night.

With ten minutes left to play, HPU led by 12 points. They held a 10-12 point margin for much of the rest of the half, although a Berinobis three-pointer, his fifth of the night, cut the margin to six (81-75) with 3:18 remaining. But a minute later, a trey by HPU's David Rowlands pushed their lead back to 11 (86-75) and seal the game for the defending PacWest champions.

The Sharks outscored the Vulcans 55-41 in the second half and hit 61 percent of their shots from the field after the break. They also nailed 18 of 22 free throw attempts in the final 20 minutes, 29 of 37 for the game. UH Hilo hit 15-of-43 trey attempts in the contest, but were out-boarded by the larger Sharks, 42-32. UH Hilo only had 19 free throw attempts (made 14).

Prior to the game, the Vulcans honored their four seniors—Callaghan, Berinobis, Trey Ingram and Arnold Silva. "I'm really proud to have been able to coach all four of them," Coleman said. "They are all going to graduate and were great representatives of our program.