HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University overcame a sluggish first half by powering through the second half to beat Oakland City (Ind.) 74-53 in the Sharks home opener on Tuesday night at the Moanalua Gym.
 
The Sharks (2-1) overcame a five-point deficit with an 8-0 in the last 3:40 of the first half to launch them past the Mighty Oaks (1-2).
 
"We didn't play with a lot of energy in the first half," said HPU head coach Darren Vorderbruegge. "But we played the second half much better. We still must play two halves."
 
PacWest Preseason Player of the Year Jonathan Janssen, a senior forward from Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain Creek, led the Sharks with a game-high 22 points with eight rebounds and three blocked shots. He hit 9-of-15 shots from the floor, including 4-of-6 3-pointers. Junior guard Neema Namda of Sandy, Utah/Alta and senior guard Darnell Bettis of Los Angeles/University, both added 11 points, with Bettis dishing out seven assists and grabbing six rebounds. Junior forward Scott Ulaneo of Rome, Italy/St. George's International, a transfer from Seattle U, collected nine rebounds for game-high honors.
 
Oakland City was paced by Tyler Toopes with 19 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Andrew Scott added 13 points, while Logan Worthington posted 11 points. Beau Hefner tallied seven assists.
 
Despite hitting 27 percent through most of the first half, the Sharks shot 44 percent for the contest, hitting 30-of-69 shots, including 11-of-32 (34 percent) from the 3-point arc. HPU hit 3-of-4 shots (75 percent) from the foul line. The Mighty Oaks shot 37 percent (22-of-60) from the floor, including 5-of-22 (23 percent) from the arc. OCU made 4-of-8 (50 percent) from the free throw line. HPU dominated the boards, outrebounding OCU 48-31. HPU suffered 11 turnovers, while the Oaks posted nine turnovers.
 
The Sharks looked like they would blow the game open early, jumping out to an eight-point 14-6 lead with 12:27 remaining in the half on a 3-pointer by Janssen.
 
The Mighty Oaks responded with an 8-0 run on 3's by Toopes and Scott, and tied the game at 14 on a layup by Nathaniel Schmittler. HPU scored only to have OCU follow with a 7-2 run to claim a five-point 23-18 lead with 6:17 in the half on a Worthington layup.
 
Oakland City fought off the Sharks to keep the five-point lead after a Scott jumper with 3:48 remaining in the half. The Sharks, who used three timeouts in the first half, kicked it into gear after the shot.
 
Bettis started an 8-0 run with a layup, with Namdar tying the game with 1:08 left on a 3-pointer. After forcing an OCU turnover, the Sharks capped the run and the half with a triple by freshman guard Jacob Foy of Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier just before the halftime horn to take a 30-27 lead into intermission.
 
HPU opened the second half with a pair of 3's from Janssen to key an 18-6 run to take a double-digit lead and never looked back.
 
A couple more triples by Foy pushed the Sharks lead to 20 and HPU was on a roll, finishing with a 21-point 74-53 victory.
 
The Sharks will enjoy Thanksgiving before returning to the hardwood next week. HPU will open PacWest Conference play on Thursday, Nov. 29, when they host Hawai'i Hilo to in a PacWest Hawai'i Challenge contest. The contest tips at 6:30 p.m., following the women's play between the schools, at Moanalua Gym.