HONOLULU — Senior Niksha Federico popped for 25 points in leading defending PacWest Champion Hawai'i Pacific University to an 81-57 win over Academy of Art on Wednesday night to return to conference play at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
 
The Sharks (8-4, 3-1) overcame a slow start before running away from the Urban Knights (4-9, 3-4).
 
"We were rusty, not playing in two full weeks," said HPU head coach Darren Vorderbruegge. "But once we got rolling we didn't stop and got to play everyone we had dressed."
 
Federico, the senior forward from San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic, chalked up 25 points to lead the Sharks, but missed a double-double with seven rebounds. Junior forward Spencer Vering of San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic, came off the bench with 16 points with six boards, while redshirt freshman guard David Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark added 10 points with three assists. Senior forward Albert Christensson of Lund, Sweden, just missed a double-double scoring nine points with a game-high 11 rebounds before fouling out.
 
Art U's Cameron Niven led the Urban Knights with 12 points and six rebounds, while Kendall Brown and Cole Morgan each added 11 points. Morgan picked up four steals as well.
 
HPU shot 46 percent from the floor (26-of-56), including 38 percent (11-of-29) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks connected on 18-of-23 shots (78 percent) from the foul line. Art U was held to 36 percent (20-of-55) from the floor, and just 4-of-18 from the arc (22 percent). The Knights were 13-of-17 (76 percent) from the foul line.  The Sharks took the battle on the boards 42-31, but HPU suffered 20 turnovers to the Urban Knights 17.
 
HPU got the game started with a free throw from Rowland before the Urban Knights went on a 9-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from Brown.  The Sharks forced two defensive stops before Federico scored HPU's first field goal with 13:55 remaining in the first. That bucket started a 10-0 run that gave HPU the lead on a pair of free throws from freshman guard Emil Isovic of Kristianstad, Sweden at 11-9.
 
Art U tied the game on a dunk from Niven 40-seconds later, before Federico buried a 3-pointer followed by two more triples from Vering as the Sharks extended the run to 21-4 and HPU never looked back.
 
Art U trimmed the lead to five before the Sharks got a free throw and jumper from junior forward Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain State to close the half with a 36-27 lead.
 
The Sharks sealed the contest early in the second half, opening the half with 16-0 run and stretching it to a 19-1 start in the first eight minutes as Vering stretched the lead to 27 with a traditional layup and free throw 3-point play.
 
HPU posted its largest lead of 31-points with 5:43 remaining on Federico's final 3-pointer.
 
One highlight for HPU in the final 10 minutes was getting redshirt freshman guard Lorenz Gordon-Haynes into the game for the first time this season. After starting the season with an injury, Gordon-Haynes stepped up for seven points, including a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left.
 
The contest was the first of three games over the next five days for the Sharks. HPU hosts Holy Names on Friday night at the Blaisdell. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. following the women's game between the schools.