KIRKLAND, Wash. – Hawai'i Pacific University picked up its second win in as many days on Wednesday night in beating Northwest University 79-72 in non-conference play at Kristi Brodin Pavilion.
 
The Sharks (2-2), who beat Northwest Indian College 92-50 on Tuesday night, found a tougher opponent in the NAIA's NU Eagles (4-0) who played the contest as an exhibition game.
 
The Sharks withstood a late push by the Eagles by connecting on 5-of-6 free throws in the last 23 seconds to win the contest by seven.
 
Senior Ronald Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Grove led the Sharks with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, to go with a blocks and a steal. Junior David Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark added 17 points, while senior Daniel Melifonwu of San Diego/Lincoln scored 14 points with seven boards and two blocked shots.
 
Jase Paulsen led Northwest U. with 17 points in hitting 5-of-6 from the 3-point arc, while Hussayn Ford double-doubled with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Cesar Sandoval added 11 points with two blocks.
 
The Sharks made 26-of-58 (45 percent) from the floor, including 11-of-23 (48 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks connected on 16-of-18 (89 percent) of their free throws. The Eagles shot 44 percent from the field (27-of-61), with 8-of-18 (44 percent) from the arc. NU made 10-of-17 (59 percent) from the charity stripe. Northwest outrebounded HPU 37-36, and turned the ball of 18 times to the Sharks 13.
 
NU opened the contest on a 7-0 run, and led 10-5 just three minutes in. HPU responded with a 7-0 run to take the lead at 12-10 on a jumper by sophomore Jacob Foy of Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier at the 15:20 mark. From that point until late in the half, the two teams tied four more times and swapped the lead a couple of times. Ford tied the game at 33-all with just more than two minutes to go before the half, but that was the last tie.
 
HPU responded with a 7-0 run down the stretch with Rowlands putting the Sharks up 40-33 with free throws just before the half.
 
The Sharks opened the second half on a 3-pointer by senior Neema Namdar of Sandy, Utah/Alta to take the largest lead of the game at 43-33 and never let the lead vanish.
 
The Eagles closed the gap to a basket twice, only to have HPU reopen the lead, getting it back to nine at 69-60 with 3:07 remaining.
 
The Eagles made a final push in the last minute, trailing by eight when Paulsen and Ryan Ricks hit a pair of 3-pointers with HPU's Melifonwu making one of two free throws that gave HPU a 75-72 lead with 16 seconds to play.
 
But the Sharks were steady as redshirt freshman Ryan Godges of Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos and Bain nailed a pair of free throws each to put HPU over the line at 79-72.
 
HPU has some time off after returning home, and they won't play again until taking on Hawai 'I on Sunday, Dec. 1. Tipoff at the Stan Sheriff Center is set for 5 p.m.