Hawaii Pacific snaps slide with Senior Night rally over Azusa Pacific

HONOLULU – Swimming out of the Tank with one last win.

The Hawaii Pacific University men’s basketball team sent six players off with one last victory from inside the friendly confines of the Shark Tank on Thursday night, taking down Azusa Pacific, 75-66. Senior guard Joshua West scored a team-high 19 points in his final home game, helping the Sharks erase a halftime deficit to rally for a win for the fourth time this year.

Fellow senior Quinton McCullough added 16 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench, going 8-of-11 from the floor and sparking the HPU offense in the second half. Junior guard Quentin Meza chipped in 13 points, four rebounds and a trio of assists for the Sharks while going 5-for-5 at the charity stripe as HPU (16-9, 12-8 PacWest) went 21-for-25 as a team from the free throw line.

“Ultimately, we absolutely had to have this game to try and qualify for the conference tournament,” said head coach Jesse Nakanishi following the win as the Sharks momentarily claimed third place in the PacWest standings for themselves.

Entering Thursday on a three-game slide, Nakanishi acknowledged that his squad had not been playing their best basketball. Even worse, it was different areas in HPU’s game showing cracks.

Against Point Loma, HPU struggled with turnovers and getting stops against the top team in the conference. Homecoming night against Fresno Pacific saw the Sharks start slow, falling down 23-2 through the opening 11 minutes of action last Saturday.

Tuesday’s Field Trip Game, an annual treat for the Shark Bite Mentorship program under Nakanishi’s watch, was supposed to help boost his team with over 400 screaming keiki in attendance. It helped HPU spar with Jessup for the opening 20 minutes, but the defense evaporated after halftime and the Warriors took a 23-point lead with under 10 minutes to play.

The Sharks battled to rally over the final few minutes against Jessup, but the 23-point deficit proved to be too much as they fell for the first time ever on Field Trip Day and suddenly had put their postseason hopes in peril.

Thursday brought another opportunity, the final one at home, for HPU to get back on track before closing the regular season on the road.

It appeared like it’d be more of the same for the Sharks though as Azusa Pacific (6-18, 4-15 PacWest) got out of the gates quickly, taking a 12-3 lead over the hosts after five minutes of action.

The Azusa advantage grew into double figures as the clock hit the nine-minute mark of the opening stanza, taking a 28-17 lead after back-to-back 3-pointers from Caleb Oden and Tobias Aisien.

In search of a jolt of energy, Nakanishi dusted off trusted senior reserve Kemp Van Es for just the 10th game this season and got results as the guard drilled a triple from the top of the key with a defender closing in to help power the Sharks on a 19-9 run.

“When you go [through rough stretches], you don’t hit the panic button, but you look for the spark button, if you will,” Nakanishi said in response about trying different rotation combinations than usual throughout the night.

Meza finished another layup through contact and added the free throw after to make it a 37-36 deficit for HPU just before the break, but APU guard DM Sanders drained his second 3-pointer of the night before the horn to send the Cougars into the locker rooms leading the Sharks by four.

Quentin Meza (3) celebrates after making a play against Azusa Pacific. | Photo: Riley Guillermo, HSRN

Then, it seemed like the funk started to finally lift from HPU.

Nakanishi inserted McCullough into the opening five out of the break, replacing freshman Ike Sutton in the starting lineup for the second half after the forward tallied eight points in the opening half.

It was once again the right lever to pull – or button to press – by Nakanishi.

McCullough scored six of HPU’s first eight points out of halftime, helping put the Sharks ahead for the first time all night just two and a half minutes after play resumed. The two squads sparred momentarily until Azusa Pacific punched back, taking a five-point lead back with 10:19 left in regulation after getting to the line eight times over a three-minute stretch and forcing Nakanishi to take a timeout.

Sutton was back in following the timeout, stepping up alongside Nemanja Sarenac and a trio of seniors as HPU threw a few quick jabs with three straight buckets from Josh Niusulu, McCullough and Maj Dusanic to take a 58-57 lead as the clock ticked under nine minutes left to play.

The Sharks would not trail again.

Quinton McCullough gets a dunk off past a Azusa Pacific defender. | Photo: Riley Guillermo, HSRN

Sutton added on three points from the line after getting fouled on a triple as the shot clock expired and drilled a pull-up jumper from 14 feet away to extend the advantage to six for HPU with 5:18 to go.

“He’s a tough kid for as small as he is,” Nakanishi glowingly said of Sutton. “He really has great on-ball defense and just puts pressure on defenses on the other end.”

Meza and West took turns delivering the daggers into Azusa Pacific’s comeback hopes, guiding HPU to a calm 75-66 victory in the final meeting against the Cougars as PacWest rivals.

APU will transition to the NCAA’s Division III level following the conclusion of the 2025-26 academic calendar and join the SCIAC as the school celebrates the return of the football program.

Sanders led the way for Azusa Pacific with 14 points in the loss, shooting just 3-of-13 from the field but knocking down a pair of threes for the Cougars. The senior from San Diego also knocked down 6-of-7 free throws while the team went 16-for-23 from the charity stripe as a whole.

Graduate transfer Shad Thomas recorded his 12th double-double of the year for APU, chipping in 10 points and collecting 13 rebounds in 37 minutes of work.

Hawaii Pacific will hit the road for the final two games of the regular season, needing one more victory to clinch a spot in the PacWest Tournament. The Sharks will visit conference-leading Point Loma on Thursday, February 26 before wrapping up the regular season against another squad looking to secure a postseason spot in Concordia on Saturday, February 28.

“We’re going to play two of the best teams in the league,” Nakanishi flatly stated. “If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best is the message.”

Joshua West (center) was one of the six HPU seniors that were honored. | Photo: Riley Guillermo, HSRN