HILO, Hawai`i--In a battle of two weary teams, Hawai`i HIlo held on for the final few blows during a 69-63 rugged men's basketball win over Biola on Monday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The Vulcans, playing their third game in five nights, and without Jordan Graves (injured) and Elisha Duplechan (flu), improved to 5-6 overall with the win and to 4-5 in the Pacific West Conference. Biola, also playing their third game in five nights and most recently a four-overtime win at Chaminade, fell to 9-5 overall and to 5-3 in the PacWest. 

"Considering all the circumstances, that was as close to a complete 40-minute game that we have played this year," said Vulcan head coach GE Coleman. 

When these two teams met last month in southern California, it was Biola with the 74-56 win.

Sasa Vuksanovic had a career-high 26 points with four rebounds and four assists. He hit 10-of-14 shots from the field, often working against seven-foot Solomon Ruddell. Kaleb Gilmore came off the bench for his second double-figure game in a row with 16 points, hitting 4-of-7 treys. Kupaa Harrison chipped in ten points and six boards. 

"Sasa played a very smart game," Coleman added. "He is really tough to handle because of the way he can work inside and out, and he passes so well."

Chris Rossow led Biola with 22 points, hitting 10-of-11 free throw attempts. 

After Biola scored the first basket of the game, the Vulcans went on a 7-0 run and would lead the entire first half. The home team's biggest lead was eight (22-14) after a Vuksanovic three-pointer, and they would go into the halftime locker room with a 36-29 margin. The Vulcans shot 57 percent in the first half while Biola only converted 33 percent of their shots. 

But Biola would rally quickly in the second half. Rossow converted a three-point play and Marquise Mosley nailed a trey to tie the game at 40-40, three minutes into the half. The Eagles would still lead with 8:45 left (51-50), before two factors flipped the game in the Vulcans favor.

One, Gilmore buried two treys on the offensive end, and Coleman sent his team into a zone on the defensive end. The Vulcans forced Biola to shoot from long range, and when they tried to pass through the zone, it resulted in a number of UHH steals. 

"They might have been the turning point for us," Coleman said.

It resulted in a 10-3 run and UH Hilo wouldn't trail again. The Eagles would cut the margin to one point (62-61) with 1:25 left on a Rossow trey, but Vuksanovic answered with a three-point play and two more free throws to seal the game.

UH Hilo shot 56 percent from the field and held Biola to 39 percent accuracy. The Vulcans led for almost 30 of the 40 minutes.

"We have a couple of days now to try and rest and heal up, but we have another tough one coming up," Coleman added. 

The Vulcans will host Dominican on Thursday night the Civic. Start time is 7:30 pm.