HONOLULU – The Hawai'i Pacific University men closed a nine-point deficit to one point, but could never retake a lead as Notre Dame de Namur upset the Sharks 51-47 in PacWest Conference action to close the season on Saturday evening at Moanalua High School Gym.
 
The Sharks (7-20, 4-18) finished the season with five straight losses, while the Argonauts (2-26, 2-20) snapped a six-game losing streak and won for the second time this season.
 
The Sharks held the lead in the opening five minutes of play, after the Argonauts took a lead they never gave it up.
 
Junior Ronald Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Grove led the Sharks with 13 points to go with five rebounds and a block, while senior Darnell Bettis of Los Angeles/University scored 12 points in his final game with five rebounds and six assists. Senior Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain State grabbed seven rebounds with four points and junior Neema Namdar of Sandy, Utah/Alta also pulled down seven boards with six points.
 
Notre Dame de Namur was paced by RJ Louis with 15 points to go with six rebounds. Anthony Suber double-doubled with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Val Wilson also scored 10 points.
 
HPU shot just 31 percent from the floor (18-of-58), and only 3-of-27 (11 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks made 8-of-13 (62 percent) from the foul line. NDNU shot 37 percent (19-of-51) from the field, including 4-of-20 (20 percent) from the arc. The Argos made 9-of-13 (69 percent) of their free throws. The Argos and Sharks both collected 39 rebounds each, while HPU suffered nine turnovers to NDNU's 10.
 
HPU led early on back-to-back layups from Blain. After a couple of quick scores from NDNU, junior Daniel Melifonwu of San Diego/Lincoln tied the game at 6-all at the second media timeout. When Argo Chazz Wade buried a baseline corner 3-pointer with 11:46 remaining in the half, NDNU grabbed the lead for good.
 
NDNU used a 12-4 run to go up 23-14 for their largest lead of nine with 4:44 to go in the half. But the Sharks followed with an 10-2 run to end the half with Namdar pulling HPU within one at 25-24 at intermission.
 
The Argos opened the second half on a 6-0 run and the teams parried from there. HPU followed with a run of its own as a Bettis layup with 10:37 to play put the Sharks within a point at 33-32. But NDNU built its lead back to six.
 
Blain followed with a jumper and a 3-pointer against a free throw from NDNU to pull the Sharks within two at 45-43 with 2:21 to play.
 
NDNU ran the clock down, but following a missed HPU shot, Suber got a running layup to go up 47-43 with 1:10 remaining. Forced to foul, the Sharks put the Argos at the line and NDNU rebuilt a seven-point lead.
 
Namdar hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left, but it was too little too late and the Argos held on for the 51-47 win.
 
The low-scoring game saw HPU held to less than 50 points for the second time in three games.
 
The contest ended the season for both teams.