HONOLULU, Hawai`i—UH Hilo had four players in double figures and led for all but 30 seconds of the game in picking up a 77-70 win over Saint Martin's on Friday at the D2 Hoops in Hawaii Power Invitational.

The victory moves UH Hilo's record to 3-4 on the season. Saint Martin's, who reached the NCAA West Region title game a year ago, is now 4-6. The Vulcans will play one more game at the Hawai`i Convention Center, taking on Alaska Anchorage on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

The Vulcans were led by a career-high 21 points from Elisha Duplechan. Kupaa Harrison and Sasa Vuksanovic had 15 each and Damani Whitlock had 12.

Duplechan, the 5-foot-11 junior transfer from Division I Nebraska-Omaha, hit a sizzling 8-of-11 shots from the field, including 3-of-3 from behind the arch. He also had six steals in the game.

Vuksanovic and Harrison both had double-doubles. The 6-foot-9 Serbian had 14 rebounds and Oahu-native Harrison had ten.

UH Hilo had 14 steals in the game and forced SMU into 22 turnovers.

The Saints scored the first two points of the game, but the Vulcans quickly countered with a Vuksanovic basket in the lane and two free throws by Harrison to take a lead that they would never give up. Crisp passing would lead to six of eight shooting to begin the game and a 15-6 lead just four minutes into the contest.

Coming out of the media timeout, SMU went on a 6-0 run, but the Vulcans answered with back-to-back scores by Duplechan. The Saints had two possessions with a chance to take a lead, but couldn't, and Duplechan added another basket and Kaleb Gilmore hit a three-pointer to give UHH a 41-35 lead at the break.

Duplechan had 16 points at intermission, and the Saints were high in turnovers (14) and low in three-pointers made (none).

By the first media timeout of the second half, Whitlock had hit a trey and Harrison had converted a three-point play to push UHH's lead to 47-36. Just past 12 minutes left, a Duplechan three-ball made it 59-44.

The Vulcans continued to pull away, forcing SMU into turnovers and poor shooting. A Whitlock basket pushed the margin to 16 points (64-48), and with just under four minutes remaining, Vuksanovic did the same (68-52).

The Saints made a last effort, but got no closer than seven points, the final margin of victory.  The Vulcans were able to hold off the team from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, despite Duplechan and Jordan Graves fouling out.

Saint Martin's made just 1-of-13 three-point attempts. They were led in the scoring column by Demonte Malloy's 23 points.