SAN FRANCISCO – Hawai'i Pacific University shot just 21 percent from the field in the second half and Academy of Art's Cameron Niven got a layup with 25 seconds to play to lead the Urban Knights to a 67-66 upset of the Sharks in PacWest Conference play Monday at Kezar Pavilion.
 
The Sharks (13-11, 8-8) held a 14-point lead with 18:45 remaining in the second half before the Urban Knights (10-13, 9-8) rallied with a 12-0 run to set up a stretch run battle. HPU built the lead back to six at 64-58, but ArtU finished the final 4:30 on a 9-2 run for the win.
 
Senior forward Niksha Federico of San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic, led the Sharks with his PacWest leading 15th double-double in posting game-highs of 21 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Junior forward Spencer Vering of San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic added 14 points and six rebounds, while junior forward Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain Creek collected eight points and eight rebounds.
 
The Urban Knights were paced by Kendall Brown's 16 points, with Stefan Milivojevic hit 5-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the 3-point arc for 13 points. Cole Morgan added 12 points and Niven just missed a double-double with nine points and nine boards.
 
HPU, that shot 52 percent in the first half, hit only 6-of-28 shots in the second to finish at 37 percent from the floor. The Sharks made 5-of-21 (24 percent) of their shots from the 3-point arc and 19-of-22 (86 percent) from the free throw line. ArtU shot 50 percent for the game (25-50) from the field, 6-of-14 (43 percent) from the arc and 11-of-17 (65 percent) from the charity stripe. HPU won the battle of the boards 37-27, but ArtU had only seven turnovers to nine for the Sharks.
 
The Sharks broke open a close first half with a 10-0 run midway through the half as Federico gave HPU a 23-13 lead. But the Urban Knights chipped back and cut the lead to two at 30-28 with 4:28 remaining in the frame. Vering used a layup and 3-pointer to start a 10-2 run to close the half and give the Sharks a 40-30 lead at intermission.
 
HPU started the second half with a pair of Federico free throws and a Janssen layup to grab its largest lead of the game at 44-30 a little more than a minute into the period.
 
The Urban Knights, down 13, then went on their 12-0 run over the next four minutes to pull ArtU within a point at 48-47 with 11:56 remaining.
 
HPU went back up by seven on a layup by junior guard Darnell Bettis of Los Angeles/University, then maintained a six-point lead with 4:30 left.
 
Milivojevic responded with a 3-pointer and a layup and capped a 7-0 run with a jumper by Uchenna Okeneme with 1:23 to go to give ArtU the 65-64 lead.
 
The Sharks got a layup from freshman guard Emil Isovic of Kristianstad, Sweden to go back up 66-65 with 45 second to go. But  ArtU got the go-ahead 20 seconds later when the Urban Knights pulled the Sharks to the left side of the lane and Morgan dumped a pass to a wide-open Niven.
 
HPU had two shots to retake the lead in the final 15 seconds, but both shots rimmed out.
 
HPU stays in the Bay area to continue their mainland road trip with the third game coming on Wednesday. The Sharks face Notre Dame de Namur at Gleason Gym in a 5:30 p.m. HST (7:30 PST) contest.