HILO, Hawai`i—On Saturday night at the Civic Auditorium in Hilo, the University of Hawai`i Hilo men's basketball team offered up a new definition to the term "comeback."

The Vulcans, trailing by as many as 31 points early in the second half against the No. 9 nationally ranked Point Loma Sea Lions, rallied back to within three points on James Griffin's three-pointer with 18 seconds remaining before Point Loma pulled away at the free throw line for a 95-85 verdict.

The Sea Lions, ranked No. 1 in the West Region, remained unbeaten in the Pacific West Conference at 12-0. It was also their 12^th consecutive win to improve to 16-2 overall. UH Hilo fell to back to .500 in 2018-19 at 7-7 overall and 5-5 in the PacWest.

"We were just one rebound away from having a chance to win this one," said UHH head coach GE Coleman after the game. "We didn't play the kind of defense that we needed to until late in the game, and Larry (Bush) and James (Griffin) were really tough to deal with in the final minutes.

"It was a terrific comeback," he continued. "The guys now know that they can play with the top teams in the region."

Griffin finished with 25 points, hitting six-of-seven three-pointers, including four in the final three minutes. Bush had 21, hitting a trio of treys and slamming a dunk with five minutes left that ignited the crowd of 503. Nonetheless, with 4:57 remaining, the Vulcans still trailed by 17 points (78-61).

First, a word about the first half.

Point Loma was every bit as good as advertised in the opening moments of the game and in the first 20 minutes of play. They jumped out to an 8-2 lead in minutes, and would go on to make 9 of their first 11 shots—including their first four three-point attempts.
They would keep building on their lead, taking a 51-29 margin into the halftime locker room, shooting 68 percent from the field and owning a 19-6 rebound edge.

There would be more dominance in the early stages of the second half. Just two and a half minutes in, the lead was 31 points (62-31) after a trey by Tanner Nelson. With 10:42 left, the Sea Lion lead was 28 points and the only drama that remained it seemed was what the final score would be.

With 6:14 left on the board, PLNU led by 20. The lead was 17 with 3:14 left. Then, Griffin hit the first of his barrage of treys at 3:02 (81-67), Kupaa Harrison scored and Griffin drained another three (84-72) with 1:52 remaining. Cleo Cain added a trey and then Griffin another and just like that it was a six-point game (84-78) with 1:16 on the clock.

The Vulcans forced two turnovers in the final minute and were helped by a pair of missed Sea Lion free throws before Griffin's final three with 18 seconds left (88-85).

Then Point Loma's Sterling Somers played hero. He grabbed a huge rebound off a teammate's free throw miss with 17 seconds left that could have given UHH the ball for a final shot. Somers then hit five of six free throws in the final 16 seconds to help seal the win and avoid the upset.

While Somers was the late game hero, NBA prospect Daulton Hommes lived up to his accolades in the first half. He had 15 points at the break, without missing a shot. He finished with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-4 from behind the arch. Ziggy Satterthwaite missed just one shot on his way to 24 points, and Preston Beverly had 13 and nine rebounds. Somers had 11 points, and point guard Josh Rodriguez had 11 assists (eight of them in the first half).

The Sea Lions had a massive lead in the rebound category (42-17), but UH Hilo had 11 steals and forced Point Loma into 24 turnovers.

Harrison had 17 points and six rebounds before fouling out. Jordan Graves had nine points and three steals and Cain finished with 10 points.

The Vulcans now hit the road for a pair of games in the Bay Area, taking on Holy Names on Thursday and Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday.