HILO, Hawaii – The Concordia University Irvine Golden Eagles visited Hawaii Hilo on Saturday night to close out the annual three-game road trip to the islands.

Lance Coleman II scored 13 points and collected seven rebounds to lead CUI and Bryce Fitzgerald added a dozen points.

Hawaii Hilo built a double-digit lead by halftime and sank a difficult three-pointer before the buzzer sounded to go to the locker room up 45-30.  A back-and-forth second half resulted in nearly a stalemate for both teams but the Vulcans finished the night with an 84-64 victory.

Concordia freshman swingman Jackson Tucker scored 11 points and added four boards.  Teammates Jonah Tolmaire & Cameron Fini also provided a spark off the bench and combined for a dozen points.  That trio together combined to shoot 50 percent from the floor.

"Proud of the way the guys battled in the second half - Hilo came out hot and hit all five of their threes," said CUI head coach Ken Ammann. "This is the best Hilo team since I've been in this conference.  They have a lot of pieces, play really well together and are so hard to stop.  We have improved a ton in the last month but there is just no margin for error against the top teams in the league. We have to keep getting better and find a way to fight back into the top half. With all the injuries we've had, that would be an incredible accomplishment for this group."

CUI returns to action on Homecoming next Saturday, Jan. 14 against first-place and nationally-ranked Point Loma Nazarene University.  The Sea Lions will visit the Golden Eagles at 7:30 p.m. following the women's contest which begins at 5 p.m. in Irvine.

CLICK HERE for the updated CUI men's basketball schedule