HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University built a 16-point first half lead, then held on to beat Biola 73-68 in PacWest Conference action Thursday night at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (4-7, 2-3) never trailed in the game after making four of their first five 3-point attempts on a 12-2 run against the Eagles (8-4, 4-2).
 
Senior Neema Namdar of Sandy, Utah/Alta, canned the first two triples and led the Sharks with 17 points, finishing 5-of-8 from the 3-line and 6-of-9 overall.  Senior Ronald Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Grove, also struck for 17 points along with seven rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block. Junior David Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark tallied 15 points with six boards and five assists. Freshman Trey Chapman of Healdsburg, Calif./Healdsburg scored 11 points with eight boards and a block. Sophomore guard Jacob Foy of Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier tallied a career-high nine rebounds.
 
The Eagles were led by Marquise Mosley with 29 points and eight rebounds to go with three steals. Michael Bagatourian popped for 20 points and nine rebounds before fouling out in the final minute. Jesse Elrod and Alex Wright both grabbed eight rebounds for BU.
 
The Sharks shot 43 percent from the floor (22-of-51), that included going 10-of-25 (40 percent) from the 3-point arc. HPU hit 19-of-30 (63 percent) from the foul line. Biola shot 38 percent from the field (25-of-66), but it was split between the 23 percent first half (7-of-30) and the 50 percent second half (18-of-36). The Eagles were just 4-of 24 (17 percent) from the arc, and 14-of-20 (70 percent) from the charity stripe. The teams were even on the boards with 41 a piece, while HPU turned the ball over 12 times to Biola's seven.
 
The Sharks were outstanding on both ends of the floor to begin the game as Namdar put HPU in the lead for good on the first shot of the contest, a 3-pointer with 19:38 remaining. Bagatourian followed with a layup, but HPU came back with a second Namdar triple, along with Foy 3 and another bomb from Rowlands for the 12-2 opening run. The Eagles cut the first half lead to seven twice before the Sharks responded with a 9-2 run to open the lead to 14. A 7-0 run late in the half put HPU up by 16 at 37-21 on a Namdar 3-pointer with 38 seconds left. However, a Zanen Zeller layup, followed by a Shark turnover and a layup from Wright sliced the HPU lead to 12, 37-25, at halftime.
 
HPU maintained a double-digit lead on the Eagles until midway through the second half. BU got a 12-2 run and when Wright made a layup with 7:02 to play, HPU's lead was down to 49-47. The teams traded scores before Blain made a 3 and a layup to go with a Chapman layup to restore a 9-point 58-49 lead with 4:57 left. Twice down the stretch, the Eagles chiped the lead down only to have Namdar bury triples to re-establish 10-point advantages, the last with 1:38 to go at 64-54.
 
Biola countered with a pair of 3-pointers and a layup as the Sharks made 2-of-5 free throws, but Bagatourian fouled out during the stretch. The Eagles got back within two on a layup by Elrod with 36 seconds to go with HPU up 66-64. BU fouled Blain three times to get the ball back and the Sharks senior buried 5-of-6 from the line. The Eagles got layups from Mosely and Chris Rossow to get back within a possession at 71-68 with 11 seconds left.
 
HPU missed two free throws from freshman Lachlan Viney of Melbourne, Australia/Mazenod, but an offensive board by Chapman saved the contest. Rowlands was fouled with six seconds remaining and iced the game by making both free throws. A final 3-attempt by the Eagles was short as HPU snapped a two-game skid with the 73-68 victory.
 
The Sharks celebration of the victory is short-lived. HPU is back in PacWest action on Saturday afternoon for the second game of a six-game, home stand – five in 10 days. HPU welcomes Fresno Pacific for the second game of a women's-men's doubleheader slated for 3 p.m. at The Shark Tank.