HILO, Hawai`i—A stifling Hawai`i Hilo defense forced visiting Azusa Pacific into 26 turnovers and didn't let the sharpshooting Cougars have clear looks from behind the three-point arch in pulling off a 64-60 upset on Friday night in front of 533 fans at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The Vulcans improved to 9-8 on the season and to 7-6 in the Pacific West Conference. Azusa Pacific, who had just beaten Chaminade on Wednesday, saw their five-game win streak snapped. They are now 14-9 on the year and 11-5 in the PacWest.

The Cougars fell back into fourth place with the loss, while the Vulcans moved into fifth. The top six teams in the 12-team league qualify for the Pacific West Conference tournament in March.

6-foot-10 APU post Selom Mawugbe had 21 points, nine rebounds, two steals and four blocked shots for the Cougars, but APU was just 4-of-19 from three-point range—and they average over 10 treys made per game.

"Before the game, I told our guys that we could let them score all that they wanted inside, but we weren't going to let them beat us from the three-point line," head coach GE Coleman said after the contest. "We had one small lapse early in the second half, but otherwise we defended them very well and made them uncomfortable all night."

The Cougars were more than uncomfortable in the first half. After taking a 10-4 lead in the opening moments, the Vulcans began to force the turnovers and went on a 11-0 run. During that spree, APU had nine turnovers, and before the half was over they would have 16 as UH Hilo took a 34-26 lead into intermission.

But APU opened the second half on a 13-4 run to take a 42-38 lead. The Vulcans then settled back in on both ends of the court, and the squads mostly traded baskets from that point on.

The visitors had a 56-52 lead with 3:38 remaining before a Larry Bush trey pulled the Vulcans to within one point (56-55). With a minute and a half left, still trailing by one point, James Griffin nailed a long three to give the lead back to the Vulcans, 60-58.

A steal and basket by APU's Ben Taufahema tied it at 60-60 with 45 seconds on the clock. UH Hilo then worked it inside on a pretty pass from Jordan Graves to Denhym Brooke, who banked it off the glass and was fouled from behind by Mawugbe. Brooke made the free throw to push the lead to 63-60 with 28 seconds left.

The Vulcan defense then struck again, this time with Bush forcing a steal, and he was fouled with 12.9 seconds left. He hit one of two free throws, making it a two-possession game. The UHH defense then didn't allow a good final Cougar look as they missed two contested treys as time expired.

"We talked about getting over the hump against the best teams in this conference," Coleman added. "I thought we played Point Loma and Concordia tough, but this was satisfying to finally get the win tonight against a very good team."

Bush led the Vulcans with 14 points, while Brooke and Cleo Cain added 11 points each. Kupaa Harrison had nine points, seven rebounds and three assists. Griffin had a miserable shooting night (3-for-17) but had the go-ahead trey and also contributed eight assists and four steals.

The Vulcans will host Biola on Monday night in game two of this four-contest homestand. Start time is 7:30 pm.