LA MIRADA, Calif.--Visiting UH Hilo ran into a red-hot Biola team and picked a bad time to be stone cold themselves during a 74-56 men's basketball loss on Tuesday night at Chase Gymnasium.

The Eagles improved to 7-2 on the season with their seventh straight win and to 3-0 in the Pacific West Conference. The Vulcans fell to 2-3 overall and to 1-2 in conference play. 

UH Hilo post Sasa Vuksanovic had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kupaa Harrison was close with 14 points and nine boards. But the Vulcans had just 17 points total in the first half, digging themselves too big a hole to climb out of.

Michael Bagatourian nearly had a triple double to lead the Eagles with 15 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists.

The Vulcans scored the first four points of the game, but neither team lit up the scoreboard in the early going. With Biola holding a 15-12 lead with 11 minutes left before halftime, the Vulcans, who had already been cold (3-of-13), went frigid the rest of the half. The Eagles went on a 12-0 run before a Vuksanovic free throw and follow-up basket stopped the streak. 

But that didn't light a fire for the Vulcans, who trailed 36-17 at the break, shooting just 22 percent from the field. They were 2-of-13 from three-point range. Meanwhile Biola shot 55 percent from the floor and held a 28-13 rebound edge through the first 20 minutes. 

In the second half, the Vulcans got Biola into foul trouble early and tried to work their way back into the game at the free throw line. They were just 2-of-9 from the charity stripe early in the half, but heated up a bit after that.

After trailing by as many as 24 points, the Vulcans were able to cut the lead to 11 on several occasions in the final six minutes of the game, but the Eagles pulled away with back-to-back dunks and blocked shots by Soloman Riddell, going on a 9-0 run to seal the game.

Biola held a huge advantage on the boards at 54-29, and they shot 52 percent from the field. The Vulcans converted 33 percent of their shots from the court and were just 3-for-19 from beyond the arch. They hit only 11-of-19 free throw attempts.

The Vulcans wrap up this southern California road trip with a Thursday game in San Diego against Point Loma (7:30 Pacific).