HILO, Hawai'i – Hawai'i Hilo Men's Basketball claimed a consecutive victory with a 68-59 win over Biola on Saturday afternoon in Pacific West Conference action at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The teams traded leads seven times through the opening 20 minutes, but Hawai'i Hilo took a four-point halftime advantage and quickly added to it by firing up the second half with a 16-2 scoring output. Biola stuck around and managed to put together an 11-3 spurt to bring the margin down to single digits with under seven minutes to play, but both teams would go point for point the rest of the way as the Vulcans claimed back-to-back wins.

"I'm just really happy for the team," head coach Kaniela Aiona said. "I'm happy for our coaching staff — happy for our fans that have been coming to the games and haven't seen us play our best basketball so I feel like we're starting to play the way that we want to be. Our identity is starting to take form and I'm just proud of the team."

Saturday's win closed a five-game home stand as the Vulcans will now head to Southern California for a five-game slate.

"You get to this stretch of the year — end of January, the month of February and March — it's a sprint," Aiona said. "For us, we've dug ourselves a big hole, but there's no quit in this team. We get an opportunity to get after all the teams that are in front of us in the standings. That's the blessing so we're going to go after them with all we got."

GAME NOTES

• Julio Montes II led the Vulcans with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
• Jayden Hosein (10 points) helped put an emphatic stamp on the soon-to-be victory by splashing a corner 3-pointer then following up with a steal and poster dunk to extend the Vulcans' lead to 15 points with two minutes left.
• Dre Nobles totaled 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
• Hawai'i Hilo: 3-15 Overall (3-9 PacWest)
  • Preseason Coaches Poll: No. T2
  • Current Standing: No. 12
• Biola: 7-10 Overall (3-8 PacWest)
  • Preseason Coaches Poll: No. 5
  • Current Standing: No. 11

UP NEXT

• Thursday, Jan. 29 (5:30 PM) vs Azusa Pacific (Azusa, California)
• Saturday, Jan. 31 (5:30 PM) vs Westmont (Santa Barbara, California)
• Tuesday, Feb. 3 (3:30 PM) vs Vanguard (Costa Mesa, California)
• Thursday, Feb. 5 (5:30 PM) vs Biola (La Mirada, California)
• Saturday, Feb. 7 (5 PM) vs Concordia (Irvine, California)
• Thursday, Feb. 12 (7 PM) vs Jessup (Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium)

PACWEST PRESEASON POLL

Hawai'i Hilo was voted No. 2 in the Pacific West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, tying with Fresno Pacific. The Vulcans finished the 2024-25 regular season in a three-way tie at No. 4 in the conference standings and was one of six teams to qualify for the PacWest Conference Championships postseason tournament, falling to defending champ Point Loma in the semifinal round. The six-team 2025-26 PacWest Championships will be hosted by Point Loma on March 5-7 in San Diego.