Box Score HONOLULU, HI (January 6, 2014)— The Hawai`i Pacific Men's Basketball Team (9-2, 4-1) defeated #7 Dixie State (11-1, 5-1) at Blaisdell Arena on Monday night, 96-77.

For any doubters that questioned the legitimacy of HPU's fast start, the Sea Warriors proved their mettle early, jumping on the defending PacWest Champions early and never let their foot off the gas.

Farbod Farman, who played his best game as a Sea Warrior, put away a pair of layups before Malte Ziegenhagen and Justin Long hit back-to-back three-pointers to take a 14-4 lead with 15:08 to play. The Red Storm cut the deficit down to seven with 9:35 to play, but a pair of free throws by Leif Rodney and a steal and layup by Darry Jones Jr. gave the Sea Warriors a 33-22 lead with 8:22 to play in the first half.

The lead would get as high as 13 points and would get no lower than seven as each team traded baskets to close the half. A Rema Lascelles three-pointer was the final bucket of the half for either side as the Sea Warriors took a 48-37 lead to the locker room.

The Sea Warriors shot a strong 54% (20-37) from the field but struggled from behind the arc only hitting 29.4% (5-17). Dixie State hit 42% (13-31) of its shots from the field in the first half including 43% (3-7) from long range.

The Sea Warriors kept the momentum coming out of the locker room with Ziegehagen and Long drilling three-pointers in the early minutes. Leif Rodney's dribble drive and layup made it 58-41 with 17:45 to play.

The lead would grow to as many as 22 points with 14:49 to play after Long picked off the inbounds pass and laid it in.

The Red Storm showed why they are the #7 team in the nation, going on a 15-5 run to cut the score to 72-60. Farman hit a pair of free throws to stop the Red Storm momentum.

With the lead back to 16 and eight minutes on the clock, the Sea Warriors began working deep into the shot clock in order to shorten the game.

The Sea Warriors successfully matched every Red Storm run with one of their own. Strong free throw shooting from Long and Farman down the stretch secured the 96-77 victory.

Farman commented on his performance and team chemistry, "I was really hungry tonight and I came out to get as many rebounds as I could. This is a big win for us. Everyone was looking for everyone else, we are like a family. Last year we tested the conference tournament and this year we have a big goal of going to the national tournament."

HPU finished the game shooting 35-63 (55.6%) from the field including 10-24 (42%) from long range. The Sea Warriors held the Red Storm to 27-66 (40.9%) including 4-15 (26.7%) from three-point range.

Long led the way offensively for HPU with 26 points. Ziegenhagen added 20 of his own to go with four assists. Farman scored 17 points, pulled down 16 boards and blocked six shots, in just 24 minutes of play. Rodney (13) and Jones Jr. (10) were the other Sea Warriors scoring in double figures.

The Sea Warriors return to action Wednesday night at Neal Blaisdell Arena when they face Point Loma at 6:30 p.m.