HONOLULU — Hawai'i Pacific University went cold down the stretch as the Sharks fell to Division I Hawai'i 90-70 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
 
The contest, the only exhibition game for either team prior to the start of the season, drew 5,110 fans to the Sheriff Center.
 
The Sharks were as close as six at 65-59 with 7:18 to play, and trailed by seven at 72-65 with 5:35 to go when HPU lost both of their big men to fouls and scored only five points the rest of the game as UH went on an 18-5 run to close out the contest.
 
"I was pleased with the way we played together as a team," said HPU head coach Darren Vorderbruegge. "We played very well at times, but we're still very new together and still learning what need to do. We played a good team and we'll learn a lot from what we saw."
 
The Sharks were led by junior returner Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain Creek, who led all scorers with 19 points, including 3-of-5 from the 3-point arc. UH transfer Larry Lewis, a senior from Milwaukee, Wisc./Arcadia, added 15 points. Junior Darnell Bettis of Los Angeles, Calif./University, collected 12 points, and San Diego State transfer Niksha Federico of San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic scored 11 points and led all rebounders with eight boards.
 
Hawai'i was paced by forwards Gibson Johnson who scored 18 points and Mike Thomas with 17 points. Thomas grabbed six boards, as did Jack Purchase and Drew Buggs.
 
HPU shot just 37 percent from the floor (20-of-54), while connecting on 24 percent from the 3-point arc (6-of-25) and 86 percent from the foul line (24-of-28). The Rainbow Warriors shot 52 percent (35-of-67) from the floor, 29 percent from the 3-point arc (6-of-21) and 93 percent from the charity stripe (14-of-15).
 
HPU started off cold from the floor and trailed UH by 12by midway through the half. But the Sharks closed out the first half hitting 6-of-6 from the floor and trailed at halftime 41-36.
 
But the five-point differential was as close as the Sharks would get. The Warriors built their lead back to a dozen early in the second half, only to see HPU cut the advantage back to six with seven minutes to play.
 
But when inside forwards Albert Christensson, a senior newcomer from Lund, Sweden via Central Arkansas, and Spencer Vering, a returning junior of San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic, fouled out in the last six minutes, the Rainbow Warriors took advantage the weakness and extended the lead to 22 points before settling for the 20-point 90-70 final.
 
The Sharks will officially open the season next week in the PacWest/GNAC Challenge in Anchorage, Alaska. HPU faces host Alaska Anchorage on Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. HST (8 p.m. AST).