HONOLULU —Hawai'i Pacific University ran up a 17-point first half lead, then held off Notre Dame de Namur down the stretch on the way to a 74-62 PacWest Conference victory Sunday afternoon at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
 
The Sharks (9-5, 4-2) bounced back from an upset loss to Holy Names on Friday night, as the Argonauts (2-10, 1-6) gave HPU all it wanted in the second half.
 
 "We played really well in the first half, then relaxed too much," said HPU head coach Darren Vorderbruegge. "But we took care of business after getting lulled to sleep and closed out the game on a solid note."
 
After missing Friday night's game against Holy Names, senior forward Niksha Federico of San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic, returned to lead the Sharks. Federico posted his ninth double-double of the season with a game-highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds. Junior forward Spencer Vering of San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic, came off the bench with 13 points and four boards, while freshman guard Emil Isovic of Kristianstad, Sweden, hit 4-of-5 3-pointers for 12 points. Junior forward Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Head, Australia/Mountain State, scored just six points, but grabbed nine rebounds with two blocked shots for HPU.
 
RJ Louis paced the Argos with 18 points and six assists, as Omar Lo added 16 points and nine rebounds. Chazz Wade posted 14 points with five boards, and Stephen Baity tallied 12 points.
 
HPU shot 49 percent (24-of-49) from the field for the game, after nailing 54 percent of its shots in the first half. The Sharks were 8-of-12 from the 3-point arc in the opening half and finished 10-of-17 (59 percent, while hitting 80 percent (16-of-20) from the free throw line. NDNU shot 39.7 percent from the floor (25-of-63), and 42 percent (8-of-19) from the arc. The Argos went 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. The Sharks outrebounded NDNU 36-31, but suffered 12 turnovers to NDNU's six.
 
HPU never trailed in the game, but after opening a 5-2 lead, saw NDNU answer to tie the game at 5-5 on a Louis 3-pointer and again at 7-all on a Lo layup. The Argos threated to grab a lead when Janssen blocked a layup attempt by Anthony Suber, grabbed the rebound and got an assist in feeding Isovic for his first 3-pointer for the lead and the start of a 10-0 run.
 
The Sharks eased out to a 13-point advantage when Isovic hit a pair of 3-pointers and Janssen got a free throw to go up by 17 in a 7-3 run to close the half. HPU went into intermission up 43-26.
 
The Argonauts came out of the half with a 9-0 run capped by a Wade 3-pointer to pull the lead to eight at 43-35 before Vering got a put-back layup and a jumper to stem the tide and put the Sharks back up by a dozen. HPU eventually got the lead back to 14 at 54-40 with 10:12 to play on a layup from redshirt freshman Amiri Chuckwemeka of Phoenix, Ariz./McClintock. But the Argos responded with a 10-2 run and pulled within six at 56-50 in the next three minutes.
 
HPU rallied with its own 6-0 run, capped by a Vering 3-pointer to return to a 12-point advantage.
 
The Argos chipped back and pulled the lead to seven with 4:23 to play on a Wade triple, but Hawai'i senior transfer Larry Lewis of Milwaukee, Wisc./Arcadia followed with a layup, Federico a pair of free throws to start a 5-0 run. NDNU hit a 3-pointer to get back within nine, but HPU used a layup from Federico and the Sharks went 5-of-6 from the foul line to close out the game and get back on the winning track, 74-62.
 
The defending PacWest Conference Champion Sharks are one game in the loss column off the lead in the conference standings and hit leave the island for the first time this season in conference play as they start a four-game road swing through Southern California. The first stop is on Saturday at Point Loma where the Sharks and Sea Lions play in an NCAA Division II Showcase game live streamed on ESPN 3/WatchESPN. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. HST (4 p.m. PST) at Golden Gym in San Diego.