HILO, Hawai`i--Revenge is always sweet. Revenge twice in the same weekend, especially with your proverbial backs against the wall, is especially pleasing.

For the second time in 48 hours, the Vulcans salvaged a split of a season series with a Pacific West Conference opponent, this time rallying for a 68-66 win on Saturday night over Dominican at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. UH Hilo moved to 5-7 in the PacWest with the win and to 6-13 overall. The Penguins, who toppled the Vulcans 83-67 two weeks ago in northern California, dropped to 4-10 in the PacWest and to 5-16 on the year. 

Senior Randan Berinobis had a near triple-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Post Devin Johnson led all scorers with 21 points and he qualified for a double-double with 11 boards. Maybe even more important than those offensive numbers was the way the Vulcans played defense in the second half. After shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half, Dominican was held to 30 percent accuracy after the break.

"We really picked up the defensive intensity in the second half," head coach GE Coleman said after the game. "Randan and Devin were a big part of that for us inside."

It wasn't until late in the second half that Vulcan fans could dream of a happy ending to this physical game. UH Hilo, playing without starting guard Eric Wattree and leading scorer Trey Ingram, trailed by as many as nine points (45-36) after the break, after playing from behind for most of the first half. And, senior guard and long-range specialist Ryley Callaghan wasn't even in the scorebook yet. Maybe it wasn't going to be the Vulcans night.

But Callaghan began to warm, hitting back-to-back treys to pull his team to within six points. A few moments later, a Berinobis three-point play cut the Penguin margin to five points (49-44). The comeback continued when Will Burghardt hit his first trey of the night (after raining in seven on Thursday) with just over ten minutes left to make it a 50-47 game.

A basket and free throws by Johnson completed a 7-0 Vulcan run and gave them their first lead (51-50) since early in the game. A minute later, Burghardt knocked down another three-ball and UH Hilo would never trail again--although the Penguins would have three chances to win the game on their final possession.

The Vulcans built its lead to six points after back-to-back flushes by Johnson, and a Berinobis trey (68-63) with 2:40 left kept UHH two possessions ahead. But the hosts wouldn't score the rest of the way, and had to survive a Jeremiah Gray basket and a Cedric Thomas free throw to cut the margin to 68-66. The Penguins also had the ball on the final trip down court of the night, and they went for the win on the road via the three-pointer. They actually got three looks, including a launch at the buzzer, that all missed the mark. leaving the Vulcans and their fans to celebrate their second straight victory.

"I'm really proud of the way these guys have fought through adversity, and we have had plenty so far," Coleman said. "But guys have stepped and figured out ways to make this work. I am really pleased with their work ethic. No one will outwork us."

The Vulcans will now embark on a six-game road trip that begins with a Tuesday encounter in Oahu against Hawaii Pacific.