FRESNO, Calif.—Within an arm's length all night, visiting Hawai'i Hilo just couldn't get past that final few feet during a 82-78 loss to host Fresno Pacific on Saturday afternoon at the Special Events Center.

The Sunbirds won their third game in their last four outings, improving to 4-7 in the Pacific West Conference and to 6-11 overall. The Vulcans fell to a game under .500 at 7-8 on the year and to 5-6 in PacWest play.

The Vulcans, who led for a total of only two minutes in the game, nonetheless had a chance to tie with under ten seconds to go, but couldn't convert.

Sasa Vuksanovic led UHH with 23 points and four assists. Kupaa Harrison had 22 and seven rebounds. Damani Whitlock added 13 points and some key defensive stops late in the contest, and Kaleb Gilmore had ten points off the bench.

Spencer Heimerdinger led the Sunbirds with 18, followed closely by Aamondae Coleman and Adrian Antunez with 17 apiece.

Fresno Pacific began the game on fire, rushing out to a 12-3 lead in the opening moments. Antunez had nine of those points on drives to the basket. At the 13-minute mark, the Sunbirds still led by nine (24-15) before Gilmore entered the contest for the Vulcans.

Gilmore scored on three consecutive possessions, with a three-pointer and four free throws to cut the deficit to two points (24-22). At 4:10, the Vulcans tied the game on a Vuksanovic basket (32-32).

UHH took their very first lead of the game at 39-37 on a Gilmore three-pointer and retained the lead on a bucket by Greg Walter with 18 seconds before intermission. FPU countered with a basket, but senior veteran Harrison managed to draw a foul on a buzzer shot from three-quarters court. He went to the free throw line and drained all three shots to give UHH a 44-41 lead at halftime.

UH Hilo's lead didn't last long in the second half. Fresno Pacific opened with a 7-0 run, spurred by five points from Heimerdinger. The Vulcans would stay close the rest of the half, but wouldn't grab the lead again.

A Vuksanovic shot in the middle of the paint cut the lead to 80-78 with 22 seconds left, and after a FPU miss, the Vulcans got the rebound with ten seconds left.

Harrison drove the lane and just missed and FPU rebounded. Two free throws by Heimerdinger after UHH fouled accounted for the final tally.

UH Hilo now returns home for a four-game homestand, beginning with a Thursday (Jan. 23) match-up with Concordia at the Civic Auditorium. Start time is 7:30 p.m.