HILO,  Hawai`i—Almost every college basketball team has a home court advantage. The Hawaii Hilo men's basketball team has taken that to the next level, calling the Afook-Chinen Auditorium Home Sweet Home—with the numbers to prove it.

The Vulcans improved to 6-1 at the Civic this year and also pocketed their second upset of the season, topping Concordia on Thursday night, 71-61. Earlier this year, the upset victim was Azusa Pacific. Tonight it was the conference preseason favorite Eagles.

"We really enjoy playing at home," Vulcan head coach GE Coleman said after the game. "Our community support is great, and the guys really respond to that."

With the victory, the Vulcans moved back up to the .500 mark at 8-8 overall and to 6-6 in the Pacific West Conference. Concordia, who came into the game in third place in the PacWest, dropped to 7-3 in conference and to 13-6 on the year.

Kupaa Harrison led the home team with 24 points. Point guard Damani Whitlock had 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Tom Power pulled down nine rebounds, and Kaleb Gilmore came off the bench to add 11 points—his seventh straight game in double figures.

"We had so many outstanding performances tonight," Coleman added. "We had great play off the bench and everyone contributed."

Ten different players scored for Concordia, but only one player had double figure numbers—Cameron English with ten.

The Eagles built a 20-12 lead in the first half after back-to-back baskets by Darius Lee. But UH Hilo answered with a 12-0 run, which included scores by five different Vulcan players. UHH had a 26-22 lead, but Concordia closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 29-26 lead into the break.

Concordia hit five three's in the first half (the Vulcans had zero). Harrison had 12 first half points in 12 minutes, sidelined with two fouls.

Robert McCoy opened the second half with a dunk for Concordia, but UHH answered with a Sasa Vuksanovic basket. Whitlock then had a pair of steals and baskets as the Vulcans went on a 12-2 run. A Elisha Duplechan bucket made it 38-33, Hilo.

The game would be tied twice around the 10-minute mark, but scores on back-to-back possessions by Vuksanovic and Gilmore put UHH up 48-44. Soon, baskets on three straight possessions by Harrison put the Vulcans up 57-50 and the 555 fans started to sense an upset.

Concordia cut the margin to three points, 57-54 on a Andre Green hoop, but this time it was Gilmore's turn to score three consecutive times—on a trey and four free throws. That gave the Vulcans a 66-54 lead with 1:11 to go to essentially seal the game.

After hitting four treys in the first six minutes of the game, Concordia only had two more the rest of the way, finishing 6-for-25—and missing many late in the game. The Vulcans hit only one long range shot all night (Gilmore), going 1-for-12, and still won.

UHH won the rebound battle (39-37) against a taller Concordia team, although the Eagles had eight blocked shots on the night. The Vulcans converted 16-of-20 free throw attempts and had nine steals.

The Vulcans, who moved into a tie for sixth place in the PacWest, will continue this four-game homestand on Monday, hosting Holy Names at the Civic. Start time is 7:30 p.m.