SAN DIEGO, Calif.—There are big wins, and then there are signature wins for your program. This one falls in the latter column.

Larry Bush had 27 points and Hawai`i Hilo overcame a 13-point deficit to rally for an 81-77 win over No. 8 nationally ranked Point Loma on Thursday night at Golden Gymnasium. It was just the second conference loss of the year for the first-place Sea Lions, who are now 20-4 overall and 16-2 in the Pacific West Conference.

The Vulcans, playing the first of a four-game road trip in southern California, improved to 11-10 overall and to 9-8 in the PacWest.

UH Hilo outscored the Sea Lions 41-31 in the second half, with Bush accounting for 16 of UHH's points after intermission. The Vulcans also only had four turnovers the entire game, forcing the Sea Lions into 11.

"We really handled the adversity of playing away from home against one of the top teams in the nation," head coach GE Coleman said after the game. "We played with poise and grit. To only have four turnovers against a team like that, on the road, is impressive."

Bush, a senior transfer guard from UNLV, glided his way to 16 of those points in the second half. He hit from three-point range and drives to the lane from every angle.

"Larry was really, really good tonight," Coleman added. "He wasn't afraid to use his athletic ability to take the ball to the rim against a tall and athletic team."

Kupaa Harrison supported Bush with 14 points before fouling out in the final minutes and Jordan Graves added 12. The Vulcans shot 54 percent from the field and hit 9-of-21 from beyond the arch.

The Sea Lions, who just this week reached their highest national ranking in school history, led by as many as 13 points in the first half after a 11-0 run. They shot 63 percent in the opening 20 minutes, although the Vulcans clawed back to within four points late in the half on a Bush three-pointer, and trailed at the break, 46-40.

Point Loma maintained a lead for most of the second half, albeit small. With just over ten minutes to play, UHH pulled to with a basket (56-54) on a James Griffin trey. Back-to-back baskets by Bush pulled the Vulcans to within one digit twice—at 65-64 and 67-66.

Griffin's three with 3:40 to go pulled UH Hilo into a tie (69-69) for the first time since early in the game. Moments later, a Harrison drive gave the red and black the lead (71-69) at 2:45. Bush kept did the same at 1:45 (73-71).

A key juncture came with 1:34 left when Daulton Hommes hit one of two free throws to leave the Vulcans ahead by one point (73-72). At the other end, Bush drove to the basket, converted the basket and was fouled. He completed the three-point play to make it a two-possession game (76-72) with 1:15 left.

Point Loma then turned the ball over. The Vulcans dribbled away some clock, and then Griffin's three-point shot came up short---but right into the hand of Denhym Brooke, who grabbed it and banked home a reverse lay-up (78-72) with 39 seconds left.

The Sea Lions would cut the lead to two points (79-77) on a three-pointer by Preston Beverly with 13 seconds left, but Griffin hit a pair of free throws four seconds later to keep the lead at more than a basket (81-77). UH Hilo's defense forced an off balance trey attempt in the final seconds that the Vulcans rebounded and then ran out the clock.

Beverly finished with 20 points to lead Point Loma and Hommes had 17.

"Everyone contributed, it was a real team win," Coleman added. "We had all nine guys giving everything they had."

The Vulcans will play game number two of this four-game southern California road trip on Saturday night in Irvine against Concordia (7:30 pm).