FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno Pacific suffered an overtime defeat to visiting Hawaii Hilo, 88-85, Saturday night in PacWest action at the Special Events Center. The Sunbirds built a 14-point lead at halftime and led by as many as 16 before the Vulcans stormed back behind Tre Johnson's double-double of 25 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks to outlast FPU.
 
The Sunbirds fall to 5-12 overall and 1-9 in PacWest play following their 10th consecutive loss. UHH improves to 9-8 overall and 5-6 in conference play.

"I was proud of the effort our men displayed tonight," said head coach Shane Rinner. "I was happy with our execution in the first half. We shot the ball well and played great team defense. We need to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball, however. Credit to Hawaii Hilo, they never gave up and executed when they needed to." 
 
FPU led 36-22 at the half and held the Vulcans to 29% shooting in the first period. The Sunbirds shot 6-of-10 from deep and earned their largest lead of 16 at the 2:24 mark following a three from Madison Higgins.
 
UHH answered with 56 second-half points, however, to force the extra time. The Vulcans opened the half on a 19-6 run to cut the deficit to one with 14:53 to play. After a stretch of exchanged baskets, Johnson put UHH up by one, 76-75, with 2:17 remaining. Yevgeniy Dyachenko followed with a pair of free throws for the Vulcans before the Sunbirds closed the game with a Trevon Clayton layup and a Bobby Barnes free throw to move the game into overtime.
 
After Barnes opened the extra session with a layup, UHH used a 9-0 run to take control. The Sunbirds had two chances to tie the game, the first with :09 seconds remaining and another at the buzzer, but both came up empty to make the final 88-85.
 
Clayton led the Sunbirds with his sixth double-double of the season of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Barnes added 18 points and Jeff Amazan finished with 17 points and five assists. Higgins dished out a team-high six assists to go along with 14 points.
 
The Vulcans were led by 31 points from Vandyon Lockett, which included a 5-of-9 mark from three. Johnson added his double-double on 10-of-18 field goal attempts.
 
The Sunbirds were out-rebounded 41-35 on the night and turned the ball over 16 times. FPU finished 52% from the floor compared to the Vulcans' 45%.
 
FPU is back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at home against Notre Dame de Namur at 7:30 p.m.