HONOLULU, HI (December 18, 2013) - For the second consecutive year Hawai`i Pacific Basketball will descend on Bloch Arena at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam for the HPU Basketball Classic. The Sea Warrior men will host a pair of California teams in Menlo College and St. Katherines College. The HPU women will also join the men this season, facing Northwest Nazarene from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) and Malone University, which hails from Ohio.

Admission for all games is free to the public, who can only access Bloch Arena by Nimitz Gate of the naval base.

Scouting the Sea Warriors
Women
HPU is fresh of a two-game split on the road vs. Central Washington. The Sea Warriors took a difficult to swallow 72-68 loss in the series opener, but responded with an 85-77 win on Tuesday night. Laken McClelland and Morganne Comstock, two of this offseason's prized recruits, really stepped up their play on the trip. The pair combined for 70 points and 36 rebounds in the two-game set.

The Sea Warriors were picked by the PacWest coaches to finish fourth in the conference with senior Skye Savini being named to the Preseason All-PacWest Team. Savini has backed up the honor by averaging 17.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

Besides Savini, the Sea Warriors have been scoring by committee as Shianne Solomon (11 ppg), Comstock (10.8 ppg), McClelland (10.4 ppg) and Ieva Nagy (9.2 ppg) have all contributed offensively.

Men
At 4-2, the Sea Warrior men are off to their best start since 2009. The men defeated rival BYU-Hawaii for the first time since the 2005-2006 season, snapping a streak of 18 consecutive losses in a 79-69 victory at Moanalua High School.

Malte Ziegenhagen was named to the Preseason All-PacWest Team and has had a stellar junior campaign so far by averaging 15.8 points per game while shooting nearly 47% from behind the arc. The addition of point guard Justin Long has been critical to the Sea Warrior's success as the junior is averaging 16.5 points, five rebounds and three assists per game. Inside, 6'11 big man Farbod Farman has been solid, averaging 10 points, 7.2 rebounds and one block per game.

Last year, the Sea Warriors split a pair of games at the HPU Basketball Classic. After defeating Menlo 84-48 in game one of the classic, they were tripped up by Upper Iowa 83-63.

Thursday 12/19 HPU Women vs. #17 Northwest Nazarene University 5:30 p.m.
The HPU Basketball Classic kicks off on the 19th with a matchup between a pair of teams with NCAA Tournament aspirations. Like the Sea Warriors, the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene were picked to finish fourth in their conference.  NNU made the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in its school history last year after going 20-9 and are off to a 7-1 start in 2013-2014.

The Crusaders have three wins over Pacific West Conference opponents, twice beating Fresno Pacific along with a win over California Baptist on their home floor in Nampa, Idaho.

NNU is led by a pair of senior guards in Megan Hingston and Chelsie Luke. Both were named to the Preseason All-GNAC Team and are ranked first and second on their team in scoring. Hingston averages 20 points per game while also grabbing 7.5 rebounds per contest. Luke, is more of an outside threat, averaging 13.1 points per game while shooting 45.5% from behind the arc coming off the bench. Both players shoot nearly 90% from the free throw line.

Friday 12/20 HPU Men vs. Menlo College 5:30 p.m.
Menlo College returns to Bloch Arena and the HPU Basketball Classic for the second straight year. Last season the Sea Warriors dropped the Oaks 84-48 in a blowout win in the opening game.

The Oaks are off to a bit of a slow start in 2013-2014 with a 2-8 record coming into the HPU Basketball Classic, but feature a top-notch scorer in Keith Bowman.

Bowman is averaging 21 points and seven rebounds per game while shooting over 55% from the floor in nearly 31 minutes per game. Last year, the Sea Warriors held Bowman to four points on 2-8 shooting from the floor.

Saturday 12/21 HPU Women vs. Malone University 3:30 p.m.
The Malone Pioneers come to Hawaii as a representative of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Malone finished 14-12 a year ago under head coach Jason Mishler who has improved the Pioneers in all three seasons he's been at the helm.

Malone returns its top nine scorers from a season ago, including guards Selana Reale and Deborah Simmers. Reale is averaging 15 points, five rebounds and two assists per game while Simmers is going for 13 points and four rebounds per contest.

So far the Pioneers are off to a 5-3 start and most recently took Division I Youngstown State to overtime on the road. Malone will face Chaminade on December 19th before facing HPU on the 21st.

Saturday 12/21 Menlo College vs. St Katherine College 5:30 p.m.
The HPU Basketball Classic will feature one neutral site game. On Saturday afternoon, Menlo and St. Katherine will face off in a rematch of a game held November 18th in Vallejo, California.

In just its second ever game, St. Katherine overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to earn an 87-82 victory. The Firebirds were led by Wade Shugrue who scored 23 points while Dante Miller poured in 22 points of his own. Bowman led the Oaks with 28 points and 10 rebounds, but the Firebirds enjoyed an extra 21 free throws in the game to make the difference.

Sunday 12/22 HPU Men vs. St. Katherine College 2:00 p.m.
St. Katherine College basketball is in its inaugural season as a varsity sport. Despite being its first year playing competitively, the Firebirds have already picked up a pair of victories.  The Firebirds lost to PacWest institution Point Loma 98-60 earlier in the year.
The Firebirds are led by Miller who averages 13 points and three assists per game while 6'8 big man Dale Austin averages 12 points and nearly nine boards per contest.