HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University valiant second half comeback fell seconds short as Azusa Pacific held off the rally in a 58-54 PacWest Conference win on Saturday afternoon at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (3-16, 0-12) overcame a 13-point first half deficit to play most of the final seven minutes within one possession of the lead against the PacWest-leading Cougars (12-6, 9-2), including down just one point in the final 22 seconds before APU pulled out its sixth straight win.
 
Junior Colton Martin of Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound led HPU with 11 points as every Shark who saw action scored. Senior Rodney Hounshell of Richmond, Va./West Linn (Ore.) collected eight points. Junior Elijah Martinez of Denver, Colo./Regis Jesuit, freshman Max Topham of Paragonah, Utah/Real Salt Lake Academy and redshirt freshman Jackson Young of Kerrville, Texas/Tivy each grabbed five rebounds for HPU.
 
Azusa got 12 points from Hayden Gray, while Justin Hemsley tossed in 11 with a game-high six rebounds and Ken West added 10 points.
 
HPU shot a strong 44 percent from the field (22-of-50), but just 6-of-22 (27 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks made 4-of-7 free throws (57 percent). APU connected on 39 percent from the floor (21-of-54), including 9-of-23 (39 percent) from behind the arc. The Cougars hit 7-of-10 (70 percent) from the charity stripe. HPU outrebounded APU 35-30, but the Sharks suffered 14 turnovers to the Cougars 11.
 
While the Cougars got the game's opening points, HPU got 3-pointers from Martinez and Martin to get a 6-2 lead at the 16:40 mark of the first. APU came back to retake the advantage and the teams exchanged scores until an 10-2 run by the Cougars made it a double-digit lead. APU extended the advantage to 13 points at 30-17 with just under five minutes to play in the half before Topham got a pair of scores in a 6-0 run the pulled the Sharks back in it. Azusa Pacific held an eight-point, 33-25 lead at the half.
 
APU pushed the lead back to 12 in the second half before the Sharks started chomping back. With APU up 10 midway through the half, the Shark defense shut down the Cougars for five minutes while getting a 3-pointer from freshman Kordel Ng of Kaneohe, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Kapalama and a Martin put-back to cut the lead to five. Hemsley broke that string with a triple for the Cougars before HPU capitalized on a 3-pointer from Young, a short jumper in the lane by junior Trey Chapman of Healdsburg, Calif./Healdsburg and a steal from Ng that led to a layup from sophomore Jakob Kimura of Honolulu/Punahou that sliced the Cougar lead to one at 44-43 with 6:59 to play.
 
HPU had shots to take over the lead and the Sharks and Cougars swapped scored as APU built a six-point 55-49 lead on three free throws with 93 seconds left. HPU had another run left, with Martin hitting a layup with 58 seconds left, then Hounshell burying a 3 with 22 seconds remaining to pull the Sharks back to one at 55-54.
 
HPU had to foul to try to get possession, and the Cougars made 3-of-4 free throws in the final seconds to seal the game 58-54.
 
HPU started a four-game stretch in Honolulu against APU, and is back in action on Tuesday night against Hawai'i Hilo in a rescheduled game from December. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. following the women's game against the Vulcans at The Shark Tank.