AZUSA, CA (March 7, 2013) – The Hawai'i Pacific Men's Basketball Team (10-16) almost said hana hou against Chaminade (18-9) in the opening round of the PacWest Tournament, but the Sea Warriors were turned back in the final few minutes. HPU ended the season with a 74-62 loss in Southern California.   

HPU took an early 2-1 lead just a minute into the game, but Chaminade would hold the advantage for most of the first half. The Sea Warriors would trail by as many as 11 points in the opening half, but tie the game and take the lead on a pair of free throw hits from Malte Ziegenhagen. HPU's 30-29 lead would be brief as CUH regained the lead at 36-33 at the break.

A reverse layup by Max Livingston put HPU back on top at 43-42 with 16:58 to play. CUH again answered and led for the next six minutes until Livingston dialed long distance to put HPU on top at 53-51. The 'Swords didn't go away and reclaimed the lead. Farbod Farman gave HPU its last lead with 5:17 to play. CUH led by three with 3:33 to go, but HPU turnovers prevented a comeback.

“I thought it was a hard fought game, I'm proud of our guys. I just told them that in the locker room. Basketball is a very long season; it's hard to be playing your best basketball in March. I thought we matched up well with Chaminade, and that was evident tonight. In the last couple of minutes I thought the turnovers really hurt us. We got stuck on 60 and it got away from us, but I'm real proud of my team. Hats off to Chamainade, they are a very talented team as well,” said head coach Darren Vorderbruegge.

Some observers thought the outcome of the #6 seed vs. #3 seed was a forgone conclusion, but not in the Sea Warrior locker room.

“I never got the feeling that we were just glad to be here. We knew it was a long shot to get here. It would be very easy to be complacent, but you saw a team tonight that was not just glad to be here, but wanted to play another day,” said Vorderbruegge.

Senior Marko Cukic, playing in his final game, was strong. He posted 16 points on 7-10 shooting. Ziegenhagen also had 16 points. Cukic, Ziegenhagen, and Kyle Milligan each had four rebounds as Ziegenhagen and Livingston each had three assists.

HPU shot the ball better than CUH from the floor and from deep, but lost the rebounding (38-26) and turnover battle (17-12).

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