SAN RAFAEL, California – Hawai'i Hilo Men's Basketball had its season ended in the semifinal round of the Pacific West Conference Championships postseason tournament with a 71-65 defeat to Point Loma on Friday evening at Dominican University's Conlan Center.

The top-seeded Sea Lions managed to put together a 12-4 run to close the final four-plus minutes of the opening half to take a seven-point lead into the break. The Vulcans did their best to make up the deficit but just couldn't quite close in as PLNU managed to maintain its distance to take the win and advance to Saturday's title game.

Point Loma, the conference's regular-season winners, shot 53.8 percent from the field in the second half while going just 6 of 12 at the free throw line. Zack Paulsen managed to put together a monster game for 35 points on 12-of-19 shooting. The Vulcans cut the deficit to just three points three times in the second half, but just couldn't quite get beyond that hump.

Hawai'i Hilo finished with just two 3-pointers while committing 15 turnovers to just seven by the Sea Lions. Julio Montes II and Jessiya Villa led the scoring with 13 points each while Nadjrick Peat closed his Vulcans career with a double-double on 11 points and 13 rebounds.

The Vulcans were making their fourth consecutive trip to the conference tournament under fifth-year head coach Kaniela Aiona.

Hawai'i Hilo closes the season at 19-13 overall with an 11-9 PacWest record. Point Loma will take on Academy of Art in Saturday's championship matchup.

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