HILO, Hawai`i--Academy of Art's Stefan Milivojevic scored 21 points, 16 of them in the second half as the visiting Urban Knights edged Hawai`i Hilo in men's basketball action on Friday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, 68-63.

The victory allowed Academy of Art to slip past the Vulcans into sixth place in the Pacific West Conference. The Urban Knights came into the contest just one-half game of the Vulcans, and are now a half-game ahead. The top six teams in the final standings qualify for the conference tournament in March.

Academy of Art improved to 8-8 in the PacWest and is now 8-13 overall. The Vulcans dipped below .500 at 9-10 on the year and 7-8 in league play.

Milivojevic, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard from Serbia, hit a pair of three-pointers late in the game and then hit four-of-four free throws in the final 13 seconds to seal the win. He had just five points at halftime.

James Griffin had a Vulcan-career high of 28 points, hitting six-of-nine from long range. His trey with eight seconds left made it a one-possession game (66-63), but Milivojevic drained two more charity tosses with three seconds remaining to clinch the victory.

The game was close throughout. AAU had one eight-point lead in the first half, after going on a 9-0 run (25-17). But the Vulcans pulled back to within a point on Larry Bush's trey right before intermission (32-31).

UHH then took the lead on a Griffin three-ball at the start of the second half, and the scored was tied a few minutes later after another basket by the 6-foot-5 graduate senior (38-38). Milivojevic then dropped in a trey at 14:46 (41-38), and ironically the Vulcans would never get the lead back. The Urban Knight lead would be no more than seven points, but UH Hilo couldn't get any closer than a point away the rest of the evening.

UH Hilo missed three of six free throws attempts in the final minutes, and were out-rebounded on the night, 44-24.

"You aren't ever going to win a game with those kinds of rebound totals," UHH head coach GE Coleman said after the game. "We have to find a way to beat the teams behind us and win a few of those ahead of us in the standings. That just sets up an even bigger game on Sunday night against Dominican."

Bush joined Griffin in double figures with 14 points, ten of those in the first half. Griffin led the Vulcans with six rebounds, and Jordan Graves had six assists and three steals.

The Vulcans and Penguins will square off on Sunday (7:30 pm) at the Civic.