Box Score HONOLULU, HI (February 28, 2015) – The Hawai'i Pacific Men's Basketball Team (16-10, 11-9) is headed into the PacWest Tournament with some momentum after a victory on Senior Day. HPU pulled out a 68-67 victory over visiting Holy Names (3-25, 1-19) on Saturday afternoon at Moanalua High School.
The Sharks grabbed the lead (4-3) with 17:43 to play in the first half and never trailed again, although the game got very interesting late. HPU's lead hovered near double-digits, as many as 13; from the mid-point of the first half until four minutes remained in the game.
Back-to-back Hawk three-pointers made it a 64-62 game with 1:18 to play. On the next HPU possession,
Rema Lascelles was fouled and hit both free throws to put HPU up four. HNU then matched with two free throws of its own to make it 66-64 with 51 seconds left. Senior
Justin Long next drove to the basket and drew the foul; he converted both foul shots and left just 26 seconds on the clock. HNU's Nick Simi hit a three, but it was too late as only .8 seconds remained in the game.
Despite the late push, HPU was unbeatable in the second half with a fantastic 58% (26-54) shooting percentage. HPU was also exceptional from deep (5-8) and perfect from the line (4-4).
"It wasn't the prettiest win but any in the PacWest in a good win. Credit Holy Names for shooting 56% in the second half to really put the pressure on us, but we are really proud of our guys for making enough plays and executing down the stretch," said Associate Head Coach
Jesse Nakanishi. "All in all we're happy about sending our seniors out with winning the last two home games and having a chance to win the conference championship next week."
All five seniors started on senior day and each scored, although junior
Luke Hager led the team with 15 points.
Darry Jones Jr. added 13 points in his final game in Honolulu. Lascelles also played well, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.
HPU will open the PacWest Tournament on Thursday (March 5th) against California Baptist at 4:00 pm PST in Irvine, CA.
