HONOLULU – No. 24 Point Loma closed on a 16-4 run to overcome a Hawai'i Pacific University upset bid and claim a 64-50 PacWest Conference victory Monday night at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (4-9, 2-5) trailed by just two points with 8:38 to go before the Sea Lions (10-3, 6-1), ranked 24th in the D2SIDA poll and receiving votes in the NABC poll, pulled off the game-clinching run.
 
The Sharks were led by senior Neema Namdar of Sandy, Utah/Alta and sophomore Jacob Foy of Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier, who each posted 14 points, with Foy grabbing eight rebounds. Senior Daniel Melifonwu of San Diego/Lincoln led HPU with a game-high nine rebounds while adding six points and three blocked shots.
 
The Sea Lions were paced by Darnell Robateau with 19 points and eight boards. Ben Okhotin added 14 points with two blocks. Sterling Somers and Jordan May recorded an identical eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.
 
The Sharks hit 19-of-60 (32 percent) from the floor, including 9-of-34 (27 percent) from the 3-point arc. HPU hit 3-of-6 (50 percent) from the foul line. Point Loma made 23-of-55 (42 percent) from the field, with 10-of-24 (42 percent) from the arc. The Sea Lions went 8-of-13 (62 percent) from the charity stripe. PLNU outrebounded HPU 43-34 and turned the ball over 15 times to the Sharks 16.
 
The Sharks kept close to the nationally ranked Sea Lions early, trailing by one at 7-6 after a Foy 3-pointer two-and-a half minutes in. But after neither team scored in the next two minutes, an Okhotin layup keyed a 17-3 run that put the defending PacWest champ and national runnerup up 24-9 with 8:26 remaining in the first.
 
After trading scores, HPU caught fire as Namdar ripped a 3-pointer to start a 15-0 run over the next six minutes. Namdar capped the run with another 3 for the contest's only tie at 26-all with 90 seconds left in the half. PLNU answered with a triple and a layup to close the half with a five-point 31-26 lead.
 
The second half stayed close until the stretch run. After a Somers layup put the Sea Lions up by five, the Sharks replied with a Foy trifecta followed with a traditional layup, free throw 3-point play wedged around a Sea Lion layup to cut the lead to one at 35-34 with 17:26 remaining. The teams parried back-and-forth with PLNU's lead never getting above seven points before the Sharks got a layup from Melifonwu and a Namdar 3 to pull within two at 48-46. With 8:38 to go.
 
Robateau hit a 3-pointer a minute later for the five-point advantage, only to have Melifonwu follow with a layup to make it a 3-point game with 6:42 left.
 
The defending PacWest titleholders used a Somers layup and a steal and layup from Brock Mackenzie to start a 7-0 run to grab a 10-point lead. Melifonwu cut it to eight with a dunk, but that was the last HPU score in the contest. The Sea Lions hit all four free throws and got a transition jumper to finalize the score at 64-50.
 
The Sharks get a bit of a breather before playing the fourth game of the six-game homestand on Thursday night. HPU hosts Notre Dame de Namur in a 6:30 p.m. contest at The Shark Tank.