Honolulu, HI (January 7, 2013) – The Hawai'i Pacific men's basketball team (4-6, 1-2) had a shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, but it just glanced off the rim, sending the Sea Warrior faithful home disappointed. HPU lost to visiting Notre Dame de Namur (4-9, 3-2) 61-58 in a physical, grind-it-out game.  

HPU's three-point shooting, which had been the team's calling card this season, disappeared early in the game. The Sea Warrior missed six consecutive three-pointers in the opening 4:48 of the game and trailed 6-2. Nothing seemed to be working for the Sea Warriors, who trailed 21-7 with 8:18 to play in the half. Then HPU went on a 10-2 run to close the half and bring the Sea Warriors to within six points at the break.

The second half was very competitive with HPU trimming the deficit to three points with 9:35 to play. Back and forth the teams would go with HPU unable to gain the lead. The game seemed to be over when HPU trailed 59-55 with just five seconds to play. Kawika Lyons hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to one with two seconds to play. After the Argos hit both foul shots, HPU would get one last chance when Marko Cukic narrowly missed from just inside half court.

“I felt we learned a valuable lesson tonight, we were not ready at the beginning of the game. There is no team in this league that we can allow to be more focused than us to start a game. I believe we will learn from this and grow as a team. I thought we really battled in the second half, it was simply too little, too late,” said head coach Darren Vorderbruegge.
  
With the long distance shooting on ice (3-11, 17.4%), HPU used its big men for much of the offensive punch. Cukic had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds as Farbod Farman had five points and four rebounds in 10 minutes of work. It was HPU's rebounding that kept it in the game, HPU enjoyed a 43-29 advantage on the glass, including 19-2 on the offensive end.

Jason Jordan continued his strong play as of late with 11 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes of action. Malte Ziegenhagen again registered double figures with 10 points and six rebounds.

The Sea Warriors return to the court on Wednesday against Dominican University at 5 PM at the Neal Blaisdell Center. 

Box Score