HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University fell for the second straight contest as Academy of Art took over the last seven minutes to pull away with a 74-59 PacWest Conference win on Wednesday night at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (9-12, 7-8) trailed the Urban Knights (6-14, 4-9) by five points with 6:54 to play when ART U went on an 18-8 run to snap a five-game losing streak.
 
The Sharks were led by senior Neema Namdar of Sandy, Utah/Alta with 17 points. Junior Tavon Tarpley of McLean, Va./Langley chalked up 13 points with six rebounds, while sophomore Jacob Foy of Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier picked up 11 points. Junior Chidozie Ndu of Lagos, Nigeria/Sunrise Christian Academy (Kan.) led the Sharks with nine rebounds.
 
The Urban Knights got 24 points from Stefan Milivojevic, with Dante Williams coming off the bench with 14 points. Josh Hill double-doubled with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
 
HPU was held to 32 percent shooting from the floor (19-of-60), hitting 8-of-30 (27 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks made 13-of-16 (81 percent) from the free throw line. ART U shot 52 percent from the field (30-of-58), including 47 percent (8-of-17) from the arc. The Urban Knights were 6-of-10 (60 percent) from the charity stripe. ART U dominated the glass 42-30 and turned the ball over 12 times to the Sharks 15.
 
HPU battled ART U through five lead changes and three ties during the first half. After falling behind by six points, the Sharks used a Foy jumper to start and 11-0 run to grab a 5-point lead at 30-25 with 5:38 in the half on a Tarpley jump shot. The Urban Knights responded with an 8-2 run in the next three minutes to claim a 35-34 lead on Milivojevic 3-pointer. Neither team scored again before the half.
 
The Urban Knights opened the second half on an 8-0 run to solidify the lead they wouldn't relinquish. ART U worked its lead up to 11 when the Sharks struck back. Using free throws by Tarpley and redshirt freshman Colton Martin of Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound to go with a Martin layup, HPU slashed the ART U lead to five at 56-51 with 6:54 remaining.
 
But playing with a shallow eight-man bench took its effect on the Sharks and allowed the Urban Knights to craft an 11-0 run in the next two minutes that all but sealed the deal. The Urban Knights traded scores down the stretch to settle for the 74-59 win.
 
HPU ended a three games-in-five days stretch with the loss and closed a stretch where they hosted nine of 11 games in January. The Sharks are idle for the next 10 days before going to Southern California for a four-game road trip starting at No. 9/12 Azusa Pacific on Monday, Feb. 10. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. HST (7:30 p.m. PST) at the Felix Event Center.