HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University made a 17-2 run late in the second half, but the comeback attempt fell just short as No. 11 Point Loma held off the Sharks in the final three minutes for a 68-60 PacWest Conference win on Tuesday night at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
 
The Sea Lions (14-2, 10-0) extended their winning streak to 10 games, while the Sharks (4-10, 1-8) dropped their fifth straight.
 
After trailing by 19 points near the halfway point of the second half, the Sharks used a pair of free throws to key the 17-2 run that included a 13-0 stretch to pull within four points on a Darnell Bettis layup with 3:18 remaining. The Sea Lions answered with a 9-5 run down the stretch to save the win.
 
Bettis, a senior from Los Angeles/University, led the Sharks for a second straight game by scoring 13 points, while posting seven rebounds with four assists. Junior Ronald Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Hjust missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds with three blocked shots. Sophomore Lorenze Gordon-Haynes of Columbus, Ohio/Africentric came off the bench with 10 points.
 
The 11th ranked Sea Lions were paced by Daulton Hommes with 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Ziggy Satterthwaite chipped in 11 points with seven boards and Sterling Somers adding 10 points with five boards.
 
HPU shot 36 percent (24-of-67) from the floor, and only 23 percent (6-of-26) from the 3-point arc. HPU hit 6-of-7 (86 percent) from the free throw line. PLNU hit 26-of-54 (48 percent) of its attempts from the field, including 9-of-22 (41 percent) from 3-point land. The Sea Lions made 7-of-9 (78 percent) from the charity stripe. The teams each had 37 rebounds, while PLNU turned the ball over 11 times to HPU's eight.
 
HPU overcame a 5-0 start by Point Loma with a 10-3 run to take a 10-8 lead with 14:08 left in the first half. The teams swapped the lead with the Sharks claiming their last advantage with 11:48 left in the half on Blain's layup that made the score 16-15. But a Brock Mackenzie 3-pointer and a layup by Somers put the nationally ranked Sea Lions up to stay. PLNU led by a dozen during the half before settling for a 36-26 lead at intermission.
 
The Sea Lions pushed the lead out to 19 in the first nine minutes of the second half, capping the lead on a Kaden Anderson putback.
 
But a foul by Sea Lion Preston Beverly and his unsporting technical foul that followed, lit a fire under the Sharks. A pair of free throws from sophomore David Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark, followed by a layup and a dunk from Blain keyed the 17-2 run that put HPU back into the game as Bettis closed the run with a layup with 3:18 to play putting HPU down 59-55.
 
PLNU stopped the run with a traditional layup-free throw 3-point-play from Satterthwaite, eventually pushing the lead back to 10. A dunk from junior Daniel Melifonwu of San Diego/Lincoln with 15 seconds left was the last score of the game as HPU fell 68-60.
 
The Sharks can't dwell on the loss as they are back in PacWest action at the Blaisdell on Thursday. Concordia Irvine visits for HPU's Military Appreciation Day with the game schedule for a 6:30 p.m. tip following the women's contest between the schools.