IRVINE, Calif. – Hawai'i Pacific University completed its four-game southern California road trip by falling at Concordia Irvine 95-81 in PacWest Conference action at CU Arena Saturday night.
 
The Sharks (3-15, 0-11) never led in the contest, but tied the Eagles (10-7, 7-4) twice late in the first half. CUI used an 11-2 run in the second half to open up the lead and maintain it.
 
Senior Rodney Hounshell of Richmond, Va./West Linn (Ore.) led the way for the Sharks with 21 points and two steals. Junior Colton Martin of Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound chipped in 17 points, going 6-for-12 from the field. Junior Trey Miller of Mukilteo, Wash./Archbishop Murray came off the bench to lead HPU with six rebounds.
 
The Eagles were led by the outstanding play of Wayne Arnold who tourched the cords for 40 points, going 9-of-13 from the 3-point arc as part of his 14-of-21 performance from the field to go with seven rebounds. Cameron Fini added 20 points and also had a game-high seven boards. Jalen Sanders collected 10 points.
 
The Sharks shot 48 percent from the field (29-of-60), including 8-of-22 (36 percent) from the 3-point arc. HPU was 15-of-21 (71 percent) from the foul line. CUI shot 58 percent from the floor (32-of-55), including a whopping 17-of-28 (61 percent) from behind the arc. The Eagles converted 14-of-21 charity tosses (67 percent). HPU and CUI equaled each other with 28 rebounds and 12 turnovers.
 
HPU fell behind early, trailing by 13 points with 10:25 to go in the first after a Sanders put-back that made the score 26-13. The Sharks and Eagles swapped scores when junior Elijah Martinez of Denver, Colo./Regis Jesuit hit a running jumper in the paint to start an 8-1 run to pull within five. After allowing a score, HPU followed with a 7-0 run capped by a pair of Miller free throws to tie the contest at 31-all with 5:23 remaining in the first.
 
CUI countered with a 5-0 run, only to have HPU respond with a 7-2 run to knot the contest at 37-37 on Hounshell's steal and layup with 1:55 left in the half. CUI answered with an Arnold triple and HPU cameback with a Miller layup to send the game to halftime with the Eagles up 40-39.
 
CUI opened the second half with a spurt to go up by nine only to have HPU fight back a three-point deficit 51-48 on a traditional layup-free throw 3-point play by Martin. It was then CUI countered with the 11-2 run that put the lead in double-digits. HPU closed it to nine briefly down the stretch before the Arnold canned three consecutive treys and the Sharks never recovered on the way to the 95-81 final.
 
The Sharks return to Honolulu to play their next four games, with three of them at home. The Sharks start the stretch by hosting Azusa Pacific next Saturday at 3 p.m. at The Shark Tank.