SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Hawai`i Hilo had a hard time finding success from the field in the first half and were cold from the free throw line in the second as defending conference champion Point Loma remained unbeaten in league play with a 82-68 win on Thursday night in San Diego.
UH Hilo falls to 2-4 overall and to 1-3 in the Pacific West Conference after dropping all three games on a tough southern California road trip. Point Loma improved to 7-2 overall and to 3-0 in league play.
Jordan Graves led the Vulcans with 17 points, hitting 5-of-9 three-point attempts.
Kupaa Harrison added 16 points and six rebounds,
Damani Whitlock had 11 and
Sasa Vuksanovic added 10 points with eight boards.
The Vulcans were as cold as the Pacific Ocean just outside Golden Gym in the early minutes. The Sea Lions sprinted out to a 14-4 lead a little over five minutes in, hitting four of their first seven three-point attempts. Meanwhile, the Vulcans missed their first eight three-point attempts and were 4-of-21 from the field to begin the game.
Finally, with 7:30 to go in the half, Graves buried a three-pointer. Then he hit another, and another and yet a fourth trey as the Vulcans shot themselves back into the game. Graves fourth three-ball cut the lead to 34-28, and back-to-back baskets by Harrison (one of them a three) made it 38-33 at the halftime break.
To start the second half, free throws by Harrison cut the margin to three points (38-35), and a fifth trey by Graves with 15:15 remaining kept the deficit at five points (49-44).
Meanwhile, the Vulcans were able to get the Sea Lions into foul trouble early, setting up trips to the free throw line. But they couldn't convert how they needed to take advantage, and the Sea Lions began trading baskets for missed UHH charity attempts.
The Vulcans were still within reach at 66-58 with six minutes left, but the Sea Lions then got hot from long range. Three's by Jordan May and Noah Stapes pushed the lead to 15 points and the Vulcans couldn't recover.
Point Loma shot 50 percent from the field and hit nine treys, while the Vulcans hit just 40 percent of their shots from the floor and 59 percent of their free throws (13-of-22).
May led the Sea Lions with 25 points.
The Vulcans now return home for final exams, and will then travel to Oahu for the Hoops in Hawaii D2 Power Invitational. They will face Saint Martin's on Dec. 20 and Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 21. Both games start at 3:30 pm at the Blaisdell Center.
