Division II Hawaii Pacific shocks Boise State behind West’s 23 points

Pipe dream?

Perhaps for another team, or in another year. Maybe if they played a different lineup or made different substitutions.

But on Monday night? With a new group that doesn’t know what they don’t know?

The “pipe dream” of every Division II program became a reality for the Hawaii Pacific University men’s basketball team.

Behind all-PacWest preseason selection Joshua West’s 23 points and four steals, the Sharks went into ExtraMile Arena and stunned Boise State, 79-78. HPU had four players finish in double figures, seeing Idaho State transfer Quentin Meza pour in 14 points (3-7 3PT) while Josh Niusulu and Quinton McCullough chipped in with 12 points each.

“It’s a little surreal still … but I’m sure it’ll sink in,” said third-year head coach Jesse Nakanishi of his emotions after the win. “Just very, very, very proud of our guys … I’m so happy they get a core memory for life. Some stuff we talk about is creating memories and that’s surely going to be one that no one can take away from them.”

The Sharks led for more than 27 minutes and spent less than six minutes trailing against the Broncos, who were selected to finish third in the Mountain West preseason poll and received the 28th-most votes in the first AP Top 25 poll. Hawaii Pacific also won the turnover battle, 12-10, and shot 49% from the floor against the bigger Boise State team.

Nakanishi saw his squad jump in front behind a quick start from West as the senior guard scored 11 of HPU’s first 17 points, taking a five-point lead more than five minutes into the action. Preseason All-Mountain West selection Andrew Meadow finally gave the Broncos their first lead of the night on a layup with 8:08 left to play in the opening half, but Hawaii Pacific pulled back in front 20 seconds later on a McCullough layup.

“Josh has just risen to the challenge here from last year to this year in a different role,” Nakanishi said of his star guard’s opening night performance. “For him to get going like that, it allowed us to really have the belief that we could actually hang in this game.”

A quick seven-point barrage by Niusulu to end the half helped the Sharks hold off the charging Broncos heading into the locker rooms, leaving an uneasy feeling with fans in ExtraMile Arena after 20 minutes of action as HPU led, 38-37.

HPU extended the lead back to five quickly after play resumed as Meza showed off impressive shooting range and three different Sharks finished tough layups, forcing Boise State to call a timeout less than three minutes into the second half. The Broncos pulled within one after back-to-back layups from Dylan Andrews and Drew Fielder, but Meza again drilled a deep triple to give the Sharks some slight breathing room, 50-46.

“That boy can shoot it, man,” Nakanishi said of Meza, who grabbed six rebounds, handed out three assists and snagged three steals to go along with his 14 points. “That guy doesn’t get phased, Quentin Meza. If there’s a shot open, he’s going to take it.”

Boise State punched back again after the Meza 3-pointer, tying the game at 51 with 13:24 left in regulation on a three from freshman forward Spencer Ahrens that ended up starting a nine-minute seesaw ride. After 11 lead changes and three ties between Sharks and Broncos, Avi Halpert gave the Division II visitors the lead for good with 4:23 remaining on a tough layup.

Another three ball from Meza, combined with a wild and-1 finish right after, pushed the HPU advantage to seven with three minutes to play. West’s layup with 1:48 to play kept the Sharks up six and gave just enough breathing room to escape a frantic Boise State comeback try, clinching one of the biggest wins in program history in a 79-78 thriller on the road.

“Not going in blind, but we had no idea what rotations and all that [would be yet],” Nakanishi chuckled. “We have not had a scrimmage or anything, so this is our first go at it. We just really focused on one play at a time … we knew our toughness was going to be challenged, we knew mentally to be confident in that type of environment and then our execution and our principles and concepts within our team schematically would be challenged.”

Nakanishi continued: “We addressed those three things and I give our guys credit. They didn’t look scared of the moment at all.”

UCLA transfer Dylan Andrews finished with a team-best 15 points for the Broncos, who shot 42% from the field and 30% from distance as a team in the loss. Georgetown transfer Drew Fielder tacked on 13 points and seven rebounds while preseason All-Mountain West pick Andrew Meadow was held to just 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting.

Avi Halpert, who came off the bench for the Sharks after starting 27 games in his first season in the islands, provided critical buckets in the second half for Nakanishi’s squad as he finished with nine points in 16 minutes. Senior forward Maj Dusanic was a beast defensively for an undersized HPU team and added six points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes of work.

Hawaii Pacific returns to the islands and will play host to Nobel University on Saturday inside the Shark Tank as fans get their first opportunity to see the Sharks in person for another exhibition. Tip-off on Saturday is at 7 p.m. HT.

“Handling success is something we’re going to have to touch on, but I’m not worried about it because we’ve got great guys that want to be good,” Nakanishi said of not allowing the upset win to let the team become complacent. “We’re practicing as soon as we get home the next day. There’s no off-day after, we’ve got to get back after … It can be natural human tendency to let up, but the irony is that we’re 0-0. We have not won a ball game that counts on our record.”

The goal ahead remains loud and clear to the Sharks. Monday was just a sneak peek at what HPU can do.