Box Score HONOLULU, HI (January 24, 2015) – The Hawai'i Pacific Men's Basketball Team (13-5, 8-4) closed the Bay Area road trip on a strong note with a 60-53 win at Notre Dame de Namur (4-14, 3-9) on Saturday afternoon.

The first half was a grind-it-out seesaw affair with neither team leading by more than eight points. NDNU tied the game at 16 with 5:17 to play, but HPU responded with an 8-0 run capped by a Justin Long three-pointer. The Argos grabbed the last five points of the half giving HPU a three-point lead at the break (23-21). The Sharks limited NDNU to 29.2% (7-24) shooting and forced nine turnovers in the opening half.

HPU led the entire second half but the game remained close, neither side earned a more than a 10-point lead in the second half either. It was the Sharks that took a 36-26 lead on a Luke Hager tip-in with 14:43 left. NDNU quickly got the deficit down to three in less than two minutes. The HPU advantage was again three with 3:01 to go but baskets from Long, Darry Jones Jr., Colfax Nordquist and good foul shooting won the day.

"I was proud of our defensive intensity, especially on the last day of a 10-day trip. Limiting (Jalen) Young was key and we had a good team effort on him," said Associate Head Coach Jesse Nakanishi.

Long led the way offensively with 18 points including 7-8 from the foul line. Hager racked up his eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jones Jr. hit 5-9 shots on his way to 11 points.  

The win keeps HPU in fifth place in the PacWest and gives the Sharks a game and a half lead on Point Loma. HPU trails Dixie State by a half game for fourth place. The top six teams will battle it out in Irvine, CA in early March in the PacWest Tournament for a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

HPU returns home for a critical three-game home stand which includes the top two teams in the D2SIDA West Region Rankings and crosstown rival Chaminade. Up first is #13 Azusa Pacific on January 31st at 3:00 pm at the Blaisdell Center.