BELMONT, Calif. – Hawai'i Pacific University fell behind early and Academy of Art led wire-to-win in beating HPU 73-54 on Thursday night at Gleason Gym.
 
The Sharks (5-19, 2-15) kept the game close before the Urban Knights (15-10, 11-6) went on a 12-3 run to open up the contest.
 
The Sharks were led off the bench by sophomore Tucker Pellicci of Portland, Ore./Franklin with nine points. Senior Rodney Hounshell of Richmond, Va./West Linn (Ore.) and sophomore Jakob Kimura of Honolulu/Punahou each added eight points. Senior Domantas Sakickas of Kedainiai, Lithuania grabbed seven rebounds.
 
The Urban Knights got a double-double from Latrell Williams with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Brian Rios added 14 points, Joshua Bagley 11 points and Klay Brown 10 points. Cheickna Sissoko also pulled down 10 boards.
 
HPU shot 35 percent from the floor (19-of-54), including an outstanding 10-of-27 (37 percent) from the 3-point arc. But the Sharks made just 6-of-12 (50 percent) from the free throw line. ART U shot 43 percent from the field (29-of-68), with 6-of-20 (30 percent) from behind the arc. The Urban Knight hit only 9-of-19 (47 percent) from the charity stripe. ART U won the rebounding battle 43-36 and turned the ball over just seven times while HPU suffered 19 giveaways.
 
ART U jumped out to an early five-point lead, but the Sharks battled back to tie the game at 10-all on a 3-pointer from redshirt freshman Jackson Young of Kerrville, Texas/Tivy. The Urban Knights regained a six-point advantage, only to have the Shark counter to pull within two on a Sakickas 3-pointer with 10:59 to go. ART U returned from a timeout to get a 3-pointer from Rios that keyed the 12-3 run to pull away from the Sharks. ART U led 43-32 at the half.
 
The Urban Knights opened the lead to 13, but the Sharks chipped away at the difference to get within six at 52-46 on a 3-pointer by freshman Kordel Ng of Kaneohe, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Kapalama with 11:31 remaining. ART U followed with a 15-2 run to put the game out of reach on the way to a 73-54 victory.
 
The Sharks continue their northern California road trip and are in action again on Sunday at Holy Names. Tipoff at Tobin Gym in Oakland is set for 1 p.m. HST (3 p.m. PST).