HONOLULU —No. 18 Hawai'i Pacific University spotted Azusa Pacific a 7-2 lead in the first three minutes, then followed with a 12-0 run to take a lead they would never relinquish in beating APU 76-58 in PacWest action Thursday night at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
 
The 18th ranked Sharks (13-1, 5-1) continued the best start in school history with the win that kept them in a virtual 3-way tie for the early PacWest lead. The Cougars (8-8, 3-3) had their four-game winning streak snapped with the loss.
 
 "I was pleased with the way we bounced back after Tuesday loss (to No. 7 California Baptist)," said HPU head coach Darrin Vorderbruegge. "Our guys played hard in a very physical game and stepped up defensively when they had to."
 
Guard Connor Looney, a 6-2 senior from Palmer, Alaska/Palmer, once again led the Sharks in the scoring column as he tallied 20 points in the contest. Swingman Chauncey Orr a 6-4 graduate student from Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green, added 17 points with a team-high eight rebounds, while forward Deven Riley, a 6-3 junior from Wildomar, Calif./Elsinore came off the bench with 10 points.
 
APU was paced by Connor Peterson with 13 points and Joey Schreiber with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Petar Kutlesic added 11 points with Will Ferris coming off the bench with 10.
 
The Sharks shot 49 percent from the field (31-of-63),  yet just 32 percent from the 3-point arc (9-of-28). They connected on 5-of-6 (83 percent) from the free throw line. Azusa was held to only 35 percent from the floor (21-of-60), 22 percent from the arc (7-of-32) and 56 percent (9-of-16) from the line.
 
The Sharks won the battle of the boards 42-34, but suffered 18 turnovers to APU's 17.
 
The Cougars got off to a hot start with Schreiber opening the contest with a trey to start a 7-2 run capped by a dunk by Peterson that had Vorderbruegge calling a timeout just 2:45 into the game.
 
The Sharks responded with a 12-0 run over the next two-and-a half minutes to go up 14-7. APU responded as Ferris hit two triples and a layup to make it a one point game at 16-15 with 12:14 to play. But Ferris missed an and-one free throw attempt and the Sharks capitalized with three's from Orr and Jonothan Jansen, a sophomore forward from Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain Creek, to go with layup and free throw from Riley for a 9-0 run.
 
The Cougars pulled back to within six when Riley's layup started what would be an 11-0 run that put APU on the ropes.
 
After seeing HPU score seven points of the run, APU head coach Justin Leslie called a timeout with 5:23 to play in the half, down 37-24. The Cougars missed a 3-pointer that led to a fastbreak layup by sophomore Spencer Vering of San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic and Leslie called a second timeout. Then an Orr steal and pass to Looney for another fastbreak layup caused Leslie to use his third and final 30-second timeout down in a 39-second stretch.
 
The Sharks built the lead up to 22 points before settling for a 19-point 53-34 advantage at halftime.
 
The second half had HPU regaining the 22-point advantage, but the Cougars weren't about to give up their streak without a fight. After chipping away at the lead, APU got a 7-0 run to pull the contest to within 12 when Sharks forward Clayton Guy, a 6-6 senior from Kansas City, Mo./Rockhurst, buried a 3-pointer to retake the momentum.
 
APU managed to chip the lead back down to 11 at 65-54 with 7:45 to go, but a Vering 3-pointer and layups off HPU steals by Orr and Looney sealed the Cougars fate. HPU allowed Azusa just four points in the final 7:45, all on free throws.
 
HPU travels off Oahu for the first time this season as they face five straight road games, the next four on a nine-day trip to northern California. The Sharks open the excursion on Monday in Oakland to face Holy Names in league play. The contest at Tobin Gym tips at 5:30 p.m. Hawai'i Time (7:30 Pacific).