BELMONT, Calif. – Notre Dame de Namur went on an 11-4 run in the last four minutes to hand Hawai'i Pacific University a 73-71 PacWest Conference loss on Saturday afternoon at Gleason Gym.
 
The Sharks (2-5, 0-3) held a nine-point second half lead and was up by five before the Argonauts (2-8, 1-2) went on the run to pickup their first PacWest win.
 
Senior Ronald Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Grove powered the Sharks with a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds, to go with seven assists and a blocked shot. Junior David Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark hit four 3-pointers on his way to 14 points, while sophomore Jacob Foy of Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier scored 12 points.
 
Notre Dame de Namur was led by Trevor Thompson with 25 points, while Ajay Singh scored 20 points with five rebounds. Cameron Fisher also scored 10 points with a team-leading five rebounds.
 
HPU hit 44 percent from the floor (27-of-62), including 9-of-26 (35 percent) from the 3-point arc. HPU made 8-of-11 (73 percent) from the free throw line. NDNU connected on 44 percent as well (28-of-64), hitting 10-of-31 (32 percent) from the arc. The Argos made 7-of-11 (64 percent) from the charity stripe. The Sharks outrebounded NDNU 43-31, but gave up 12 turnovers to the Argos six.
 
The first half was tight before the Argos went on a 5-0 run to claim a six-point first half lead midway through the opening frame. The Sharks chipped back at NDNU, and took advantage of their own 6-0 run to take the lead with 90 seconds in the half on a layup from senior Daniel Melifonwu of San Diego/Lincoln. The Argos got a jumper in the final 40 seconds to cut HPU's lead to 33-32 at the half.
 
HPU opened the second half with two 3-pointers from Rowlands only to have the Argos respond to take the lead at 40-39 with 17:34 remaining. The teams traded scores, before Blain nailed two free throws and Foy followed with a jumper, to start a 10-0 run that gave HPU a nine-point 51-42 lead on a Rowland triple with 14:28.
 
NDNU followed with three straight 3-pointers in an 11-point run to retake the lead only to have the Sharks answer with a layup and a triple from freshman Lachlan Viney of Melbourne, Australia/Mazenod on the way to re-establishing a five-point lead.
 
HPU kept the five-point advantage into the last four minutes after a 3-pointer from Rowlands. That's when NDNU's Ajay Singh chipped in a layup and Thompson buried a 3-pointer that tied the game at 67-all with 1:39 to play. The teams traded scores again to knot the game at 69-69 after Blain's layup with 58 seconds to go. NDNU worked for a jumper by Cameron Fisher to claim a 71-69 lead with 38 seconds left. After a foul by HPU, Thompson hit two free throws for a 73-69 lead with 16 seconds remain. The Sharks answered with a jumper form Blain to make it 73-71 with six seconds left.
 
The Sharks fouled with four seconds left and were rewarded with a missed 1-and-1 from Fisher, but a last-second shot from Rowlands was off the mark and the Argos came up with the win.
 
The Sharks conclude their three-game Bay Area road swing on Monday night. HPU faces Dominican at the Conlan Center in a game scheduled for 5:30 p.m. HST (7:30 p.m. PST).