HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University saw Holy Names Edward "Tre" Gray hit an 18-foot jumper with 1.7 seconds to play that gave HNU a 68-66 PacWest Conference victory on Sunday at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (3-8, 0-4) opened the new year with the loss, while the Hawks (4-7, 2-2) went to .500 in PacWest play.
 
Senior Rodney Hounshell of Richmond, Va./West Linn (Ore.) HS, led the Sharks with 18 points, as junior Elijah Martinez of Denver, Colo./Regis Jesuit chipped in 15 points and sophomore Tucker Pellicci of Portland, Ore./Franklin added 12 points and seven rebounds.
 
Gray led the way with 20 points for the Hawks, with Damin Lindo adding 14 points and Babacar Thiombane 12 points and seven rebounds – both from the bench.
 
HPU shot 40 percent from the floor (25-of-62), hitting 7-of-24 (29 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks Achilles heel was the foul line, where they connected on just 9-of-21 free throws (43 percent), including 5-of-15 in the second half. Holy Names shot 51 percent from the field (27-of-53), but was held to just 1-of-9 from the arc (11 percent). The Hawks made 13-of-18 (72 percent) from the charity stripe. HPU outrebounded HNU 36-33 and suffered only 10 turnovers to the Hawks 15.
 
The Sharks opened with an early lead after Hounshell scored HPU's first five points on a 3-pointer and a jumper, but HNU responded with a 12-3 run in the first to give the Hawks an 11-point advantage after a Gray floating jumper with seven minutes remaining in the opening stanza. The Sharks cut it back to five with 1:04 left in the period on a Hounshell fast break 3-pointer, only to have the Hawks score another field goal to take a 39-32 lead at the half.
 
HNU pushed the lead to nine with the first score of the second half before the Sharks chipped back to make it a six-point game with just over 16 minutes to play. That's when Hounshell buried a triple to start a 10-0 run to take the lead and after allowing a Hawk bucket, pushed it out to a 16-2 run to hold an eight-point advantage at 56-48 following a free throw from senior Domantas Sakickas of Lithuania with 8:59 remaining.
 
HPU was up 58-50 when the Hawks got a jumper from Jason Cibull to start a 10-1 run and took the lead with 3:41 to play on a Thiombane layup. The Sharks countered with a Hounshell floater in the lane on the next trip down floor to take back the lead 61-60.
 
HNU retook the lead on a Lindo followup on the next possession, but it looked strong for the Sharks when Martinez drilled a 3-pointer for a 64-62 advantage with 2:26 remaining. The Hawks came back with a Gray jumper to tie the game at 64 with 2:14 to go.
 
Both squads missed opportunities until a rare turnover by Hounshell in the final minute led to a fast break layup by Austin Carter to put the Hawks on top 66-64. Not to be outdone, the Sharks answered a few seconds later when Martinez hit a right-side jumper to knot the game at 66-all.
 
The Hawks called their final timeout and put the ball in the hands of Gray who hit an elbow 3 from 18-feet out with 1.7 remaining.
 
HPU called a timeout, but couldn't get a final play as HNU hung on for the win.