HILO, Hawai`i—Apparently, there is no place like home for the Hawai`i Hilo men's basketball team after a 72-64 win over Notre Dame de Namur on Monday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The Vulcans, who won four of five games on this homestand, are now 5-1 at home in 2019-20. They also improved to 7-6 overall with the win and to 5-4 in the Pacific West Conference. Notre Dame de Namur dropped to 2-14 overall and to 1-9 in the PacWest.

Kuppa Harrison had 22 points to lead the Vulcans, including a trio of key baskets in the final two minutes. Sasa Vuksanovic had 15 points, all in the first half, and the 6-foot-9 post also had six assists. Elisha Duplechan and Kaleb Gilmore added 12 points each for the Vulcans, who are back over .500 for the first time since December 2.

Ajay Singh had a double-double for the Argonauts with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

"I was pleased with our effort tonight," said Vulcan head GE Coleman after the game. "We played really well in stretches, and got clutch play again late in the game from Koop on the offensive end and Damani on defense."

In the final two minutes, Whitlock drew a charge, had a steal and a rebound to help seal the win.

In the first half, the two teams shared leads until a basket by Harrison and a trey off the bench from Kaleb Gilmore put the Vulcans in front at 13-8. They wouldn't trail again before intermission, leading by as many as 12 points after a Vuksanovic basket (41-29).

With a 41-31 margin at the break, the Vulcans had 15 points from Vuksanovic. They shot 61 percent from the field and had just one turnover. Harrison had ten points.

But NDNU made two impressive runs in the second half. After a 7-2 run cut the margin to five points, and later in the half a 12-0 run tied the game at 56-56 with 8:50 to go. Baskets by Duplechan and Gilmore gave the lead back to UHH.

Up 64-61 with just over two minutes to go, Harrison scored three times and Whitlock came up big on the defensive end to seal the game.

The Vulcans now hit the road for a two-game California trip, taking on Azusa Pacific on Thursday and Fresno Pacific on Saturday.