AZUSA, Calif. -- Hawai'i Pacific University fell for the third time on the Southern California road swing as Azusa Pacific held off the Sharks for an 80-73 PacWest Conference win on Thursday night at Felix Event Center.
 
The Sharks (9-8, 4-5) saw the Cougars (13-6, 9-2) go on a 7-2 run in the last minute in a game that featured 14 lead changes and 12 ties. It's the fourth loss in the last five games for HPU.
 
The Sharks were led by junior guard Darnell Bettis of Los Angeles/University who scored a season-high 16 points, going 7-of-7 from the field. Redshirt freshman guard David Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark, equaled his season-high with 15 points, while junior forward Spencer Vering of San Diego/Mater Dei Catholic came off the bench with 11 points and five boards. Senior forward Niksha Federico of San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic, was held to a season-low 10 points, but collected his 10th double-double by grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds. Junior forward Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Head, Australia/Mountain State, just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
 
Azusa Pacific was paced by Darien McClain with 16 points and six assists, while Mandrell Worthy added 15 points with six assists. Petar Kutlesic had 15 points with a team-high eight rebounds and Corey Langerveld added 14 points. Tyson Kanseyo also grabbed eight boards for the Cougars.
 
The Sharks shot 45 percent (27-of-60) from the floor, but were limited to just 5-of-20 from the 3-point arc. HPU also shot 67 percent (14-of-21) from the free throw line. Azusa connected on 46 percent (29-of-63) from the field, with 8-of-24 (33 percent) coming from the arc. The Cougars went 14-of-16 (88 percent) from the charity stripe. HPU outrebounded APU 39-35, but turned the ball over 12 times to the Cougars nine.
 
The game featured as much as a six-point lead by the Sharks and a pair of seven-point leads by the Cougars as both teams swung back and forth.
 
After the Cougars grabbed an initial five-point advantage, HPU rallied back and took an early five-point lead with a traditional 3-point play of a layup and free throw by Vering. APU responded as the teams swapped the lead. The Sharks went back on top in the first on a Bettis layup with 3:33 remaining just to have the Cougars answer with a 7-0 run to take a five-point advantage. The squads swapped scores in the final minute to send Azusa to the locker room with a 41-36 lead at halftime.
 
APU got the first bucket of the second half and the Sharks responded with a 9-0 run started by a jumper from Janssen and capped with a layup from Bettis. The Cougars tied the game with a Langerveld layup, then HPU came back with another 8-2 run to lead by six after redshirt freshman Amiri Chukmuemeka of Phoenix/McClintock nailed a 3-pointer for a 53-47 advantage with 11:09 remaining.
 
But like much of the game of runs, the Cougars followed with an 8-0 run to retake the advantage 55-53 with 7:51 left.
 
In the next four minutes, the teams would post three ties and five lead changes with HPU gaining an upper hand at 67-66 on a pair of Rowland free throws with 3:41 to play. However that was the Sharks last lead.
 
After a steal and missed layup by the Sharks, the Cougars got the lead after Janssen blocked a McClain layup that found its way to Langerveld who swished a triple with 2:57 to play for a 69-67 APU lead.
 
The Sharks traded points with Azusa and pulled back to within two at 73-71 with 1:13 remain on a Bettis jumper, but that was as close as they would get. The Cougars final 7-2 run with four missed HPU attempts closed the game out with Azusa holding the 80-73 advantage.
 
The Sharks will close their four-game trip to Southern California on Saturday when they face Biola for the second time this season. HPU beat the Eagles 67-54 on Nov. 30 at Blaisdell. Tipoff on Saturday at Chase Gymnasium is slated for 5:30 p.m. HST (7:30 p.m. PST).