Box Score HONOLULU, HI (November 17, 2013) – The Hawai'i Pacific Men's Basketball Team (1-0) had a strong first half and eventually defeated Western State Colorado 75-65 (0-1) on opening day at the Blaisdell Center.
HPU came out on a mission on Sunday afternoon. By the time the visitors had a chance to catch their collective breath; the Sea Warriors were well on their way to a season opening in-region win.
Justin Long nailed a three-pointer to start the scoring 44 seconds into the game, HPU would never trail. Less than three minutes in,
Darry Jones Jr. hit a jumper to make it 10-0 Sea Warriors. By the midway point of the half, HPU's lead was extended to 16 on a Jones Jr. layup. The Sea Warriors continued to make plays until the final few seconds of the half,
Leif Rodney made a foul shot to give HPU a 21 point lead right before the half.
It was more the same in the early stages of the second half. Newcomer
Jordan Garrett scored at the 12:54 mark to put HPU up 52-30. Soon after, WSCU hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to make it a game again at 54-41 with 10:26 to play. HPU held serve from that point. The visitors cut the lead to 10 with 1:28 left, but HPU closed it out.
HPU was well balanced on offense. Jones Jr. and
Malte Ziegenhagen each had 17 points,
Farbod Farman scored 13, and Long and
Leif Rodney both added eight. Jones Jr., standing at 6-2, also turned some heads in his Sea Warrior debut with a game-high nine rebounds and team-high four assists.
Farman maybe drew the biggest cheer of the night when the 6-11 center took, and made, his first three-point attempt in his HPU career.
The Sea Warriors imposed their will down low outrebounding the opponents 40-25. HPU also got the better end of the shooting matchup converting 53% (26-49) of its field goals as opposed to 40% (23-57) from WSCU.
HPU now faces arguably the toughest road trip of the season. HPU heads to Ellensburg, WA for the GNAC/PacWest Challenge where it will take on Central Washington and Seattle Pacific in consecutive days, starting on November 22nd.
