Hawai’i Pacific adds to backcourt with sharpshooting JUCO point guard

HONOLULU – At the buzzer! 

The Hawai’i Pacific University men’s basketball program made one final addition to the roster before the 2024-25 season on Wednesday, gaining the commitment of standout guard Avi Halpert. The sophomore guard will join the program with three years of eligibility remaining after spending his freshman season with Moorpark College at the JUCO level. 

Halpert proved to have a sweet shooting touch in his first season at the college level, drilling over 40 percent of his 3-point attempts while averaging 18.3 points per night across 28 games for Moorpark College. Comfortable in the pick-and-roll, the guard dished out 5.1 assists per game last year while posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.7 – which would have tied him for second among all players in the PacWest in 2023-24 (with HPU’s Diggy Winbush, ironically). 

The 5-foot-11 guard is expected to compete for significant minutes right away, joining the Sharks after an injury to Winbush put the 2024 All-PacWest selection’s season in doubt. Halpert becomes a late addition to the 2024 offseason recruiting class for HPU, joining a signing class of five other players (4 college transfers, 1 high school). 

Hawai’i Pacific is looking to build off of a 3rd place finish in the PacWest during the regular season and a quarterfinal exit from the conference tournament in 2024 with a cast of fresh faces joining the majority of the core of last year’s unit. Follow along with all the action on the Hawai’i Sports Radio Network, the home for HPU Sharks athletics.