Lake Erie (OH) holds off Hawaii Pacific to take third in Hoops in Hawaii Tip-Off Classic

HONOLULU – Close but no cigar.

For the second consecutive night, the Hawaii Pacific University men’s basketball team took a tough opponent down to the wire before falling short in regulation as Lake Erie (OH) used a high-pressure defense and clutch shooting to snag a 90-84 win over the Sharks on Sunday and claim third place in the Hoops in Hawaii Tip-Off Classic.

Four players finished in double figures for the Storm, seeing redshirt senior forward Gio Moore lead the way with 15 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes of work. Junior guard Griffin Turay had 13 points  on 5-of-7 shooting while Jamyier Patton and Aidan Filippini each chipped in 12 points in the win.

The Sharks struggled with turnovers for the second time in three games to start the season, committing 24 giveaways against Lake Erie on Sunday night that led directly to 26 points for the Storm.

Lake Erie’s full-court pressure played a big role in a slow start for HPU, forcing seven turnovers in the first four minutes of action and 16 across the opening half. The Sharks steadied themselves over the final nine minutes of action, committing just two turnovers during the stretch to help erase a 16-point deficit and enter the break tied at 40 with the Storm.

“It’s one of those games you wish you had a week [to prepare for], but no excuses,” fourth-year head coach Jesse Nakanishi said about the turnovers forced by the Lake Erie pressure. “No excuses though, we’ve got to be ready for quick turnarounds and I thought our guys did a pretty good job once they got a taste of it … Still not quite good enough executing and a lot of learning in this game.”

The Storm built the lead back up to 12 after the initial seven minutes of second half action out of the locker room, using a trio of three pointers and a few trips to the free throw line to grab some breathing room against the Sharks.

Hawaii Pacific responded again though as Evan Kilminster and Marino Dubravcic started to heat up, scoring 11 of the team’s next 14 points to make it a 66-62 game with 9 minutes left to play.

The Sharks took their first lead of the night with just under five minutes remaining in regulation, seeing guard Keonjay Carter connect on one of his two threes of the night to push the PacWest squad ahead momentarily, 77-75.

Lake Erie knotted the game at 77 with a layup from Caelum Ethridge on the very next possession and the Storm snatched the lead back with 3:23 left after Kilminster missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity and Jamyier Patton drained a shot-clock beating triple from five feet behind the arc.

Hawaii Pacific would not lead again, connecting on one of the team’s next seven shots as Lake Erie built up a nine-point lead while draining all six free throw attempts in the final minutes. Evan Kilminster cashed in a buzzer-beating three for the Sharks, but the connection came too little, too late as the Storm snatched a 90-84 victory in the tournament’s third-place battle.

Kilminster led the Sharks in scoring for the second straight night, pouring in 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting while also dishing out seven assists, grabbing four rebounds and committing six turnovers across a team-high 34 minutes in the loss.

The senior guard was the lone Hawaii Pacific player to be named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 16.3 points, 5.7 assists and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 45.5% from 3-point range across the three-game stretch.

Keonjay Carter added a season-high 16 points off the bench for Nakanishi’s Sharks, going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe while only committing one turnover in 27 minutes of work. Fifth-year big man Will Woodward chipped in 13 points and tied for the team-lead in rebounds with seven boards in 23 minutes, finishing as the third and final player in double figures for HPU.

Despite leaving the weekend with a 1-2 record, Nakanishi took away plenty of positives about what his team could be able to do as the regular season rolls along.

“We’ve got the pieces,” the fourth-year head coach stated. “We’re still a new team that’s learning each other and [this tournament] was kind of the barometer of where we’re at right now so I did learn a lot for where we’re at … Roles are still going to evolve but got a good feel for our team going against three really good opponents.”

The regular season rolls on for Hawaii Pacific next Monday, November 9 as they host Northwest Indian College at the Shark Tank in the team’s home opener at 6:30 p.m. HT.