Box Score LAIE, HI (November 22, 2014) – The Hawai'i Pacific Men's Basketball Team (2-1) used a strong first half to beat Central Washington (2-2) 74-62 in the second game of the PacWest/GNAC Challenge played on the campus of BYU-Hawaii.

The Sharks came out of the gate hot on Saturday night and led from the first minute of the game, scoring the first five points of the game. With the score 16-11, HPU went on a 17-0 run. As a part of the spurt, HPU increased its lead to double-digits on a tip-in by Connor Looney. By the 6:55 mark, HPU's lead was 20 after a pair of free throws from Luke Hager. The lead got as big as 23 before the Wildcats trimmed it to 18 at the intermission.

HPU opened the second half with a three-pointer from Darry Jones Jr. to make it 46-25. However, CWU started to make a comeback. With 12:06 to play in the game; the lead was cut to eight at 53-45. HPU responded with another basket by Lonney and two foul shots each from Jones Jr. and Justin Long to fuel a 6-1 run. The lead was never again less than double-figures as HPU finished off the wire-to-wire victory.

It was a good team effort with 11 Sharks seeing minutes. Hager led everyone with 25 points to go with six rebounds. Jones Jr. added 17 points to go with his game-high nine rebounds. It is the second night in a row that HPU had a guard lead the team in rebounds. Long also registered double-figures with 14 points and a game-high four assists.  

The Sharks were again stingey on defense, limiting CWU to 21-61 (34.4%) shooting from the floor and 7-25 (28%) from deep.

HPU returns to action on Friday at 3:00 pm at Moanalua High School to host Carleton College.