HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University held on against an Academy of Art final surge to take a 69-64 PacWest Conference victory Sunday afternoon at Moanalua High School Gym.
 
The Sharks (7-15, 4-13) won back-to-back games for the first time since November, while the Urban Knights (8-14, 8-9) lost for the first time in three games.
 
HPU had an eight-point lead with 1:29 to play and fought off a comeback attempt by ARTU, who pulled within three in the final seconds. The Sharks closed off the attempt after ARTU head coach Julius Barnes stormed the court with 0.9 seconds to play and was assessed a technical foul after his team gained a tie ball in a scrum underneath its basket. HPU sophomore David Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark calmly hit both free throws to clinch the game.
 
Senior Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain State led the Sharks with a game-high 23 points with a team-best seven rebounds to go with three assists. Junior Ronald Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Grove added 11 points with five assists and two steals, while Rowlands contributed 10 points with five assists.
 
The Urban Knights were paced by Victor Ruiz de Carranza and Stefan Millivojevic with 15 points each, as Ruiz de Carranza pulled down four boards with five assists. Dre Blatancic posted seven points and a game-high eight rebounds, as Cameron Niven came off the bench with seven points.
 
The Sharks shot 45 percent from the field (21-of-47), including 9-of-18 (50 percent) from the 3-point arc. HPU hit 18-of-27 (86 percent) from the foul line. ARTU shot 49 percent (25-of-51) from the floor, with 9-of-25 (36 percent) from the arc. The Urban Knights hit just 39 percent (5-of-13) from the charity stripe. HPU outrebounded ARTU 31-29, but suffered 15 turnover to the Knights 13.
 
ARTU opened up a quick lead in the game, extending it to five points at 9-4 on a Dante Williams layup with 13:07 remaining. But an ARTU turnover led to the first of back-to-back Janssen 3-pointers that keyed a 13-0 run that gave the Sharks a lead they never surrendered. After a Ruiz de Carranza followed with a 3-pointer, HPU's junior Daniel Melifonwu of San Diego/Lincoln and junior Tavon Tarpley of McLean, Va./Langley added back-to-back layups gave HPU its largest lead of nine points at 23-14 with 6:31 to play in the half.
 
However, the Knights responded with an 11-2 run and tied the affair on a Ruiz de Carranza 3-pointer with 2:43 left. But that was short lived as the Sharks ran a fast-break on the next possession that was capped with a dunk from Tarpley for the lead. The Sharks, who led by five shortly after, had their lead trimmed to one before a free thrown and Janssen's 3-pointer just before the horn sent HPU to the locker room with a 34-29 lead.
 
In the second half the Sharks and Urban Knights battled with ARTU again pulling within one, but HPU stood firm to rebuild the lead to eight points with 1:29 remaining. The Knights got a trey from Milivojevic, then a steal from Cobe Williams who found Ruiz de Carranza open for dunk that pulled ARTU to within three with 43 seconds to play at 67-64.
 
HPU ran down the clock, with Bettis missing a jumper with 13 second to play and ART pushed the ball up floor. Milivojevic's 3-pointer was blocked by Rowlands and in the scramble for the rebound the officials ruled a tie ball with 0.9 to play – one that went to go ARTU. That's when Barnes stormed the floor, screaming for a foul and was handed the T. Rowland's free throws put HPU up by five and ART never got a shot away giving the Sharks the 69-64 win.
 
The victory closed HPU's five-game homestand. The Sharks start a Southern California four-game road swing on Saturday by visiting Azusa Pacific for a nationally live streamed game as part of the Division II Showcase on ESPN3.com. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. HST (7:30 p.m. PST) at the Felix Event Center.