HONOLULU — For the first time in years, the Hawaii Pacific men’s basketball program was back in contention in the Pacific West Conference regular season. Now the Sharks can prove they are true players when it matters in March.
First-year Sharks coach Jesse Nakanishi and the Sharks earned the No. 3 seed in the PacWest tournament, which begins Thursday at Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego, Calif.
HPU (18-10, 13-7 PWC) opens against sixth-seeded Azusa Pacific (11-16, 10-10) at 10:30 a.m. Hawaii time.
“I’m very happy and proud of our guys, Year 1,” Nakanishi said after last week’s senior night victory over Chaminade. “And not just Year 1, we’ve had some program growing with Coach V (Darren Vorderbruegge)."
Nakanishi has been patient for his opportunity. He cut his teeth coaching his high school alma mater, Kamehameha, and was a longtime HPU assistant in two stints under Vorderbruegge as well as a staff member at Division I programs Hawaii and Seattle University.
“But really getting the culture back to that level, it does mean a lot, that we can get into conference tournament and not just squeeze in there, but … fight for a championship, right to the end. We fell a little short winning a regular-season championship, but we’ve got as good a chance as anybody to go win it in the tournament.”
[NOTE: See below for more photos of HPU senior night.]
It is the first time the Sharks are in the event – which only accepts the top six teams in the 11-team league – since 2016-17, when HPU won 29 games and made it to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
HPU has done it with stingy defense; it’s 67.5 points and .412 field-goal percentage allowed led the PacWest, while it was No. 2 in field-goal percentage at .455.
Hawaii Hilo (18-11, 12-8), meanwhile, earned the No. 5 seed and will open against fourth-seeded Biola (17-11, 18-8).
HPU would face second-seeded Academy of Art with a victory Thursday while Hilo would draw host Point Loma. Art U and Point Loma were co-regular-season champions with 15-5 records.
HPU placed guard Melo Sanchez on the All-PacWest second team, while Dominique “Diggy” Winbush and Maj Dusanic made the third team. Sanchez led the Sharks with 14.6 points per game and 70 3-pointers made. Winbush added 11.8 points and shot over 40% on 3s.
The point guard Winbush, a first-year Shark out of Chabot (Calif.) College, said the team learned to expect to win every game even through some key injuries throughout the season.
“We’re just staying together, following the game plan, and we’re real family oriented,” Winbush said. “Everybody has each other’s back. It’s a good ride. We just gotta keep it going.”
Winbush was asked where the belief came from. HPU won 10 games last season and five the year before.
“It’s just our cores, our values,” he said. “Coach Jesse instilled that into us, that confidence. We have to apply it and believe it. Just a lot of faith on this team.”
HPU has an impactful frontcourt duo in Dusanic and 7-foot-4 Matthew Van Komen. Dusanic scored 11.2 points per game on 62% shooting while Van Komen led the team in rebounds (7.6) and blocked shots (2+ per game).
Dusanic had an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double with a couple of assists in HPU’s 77-72 win on senior night.
“When he plays at that level, and he’s been doing that, that’s a big key why we’ve had some success this year,” Nakanishi said. “He’s been not only scoring, but he’s been strong and finding people, and he’s rebounding the ball.”
For UHH, Carlos Ramsey Jr. and Kalique Mitchell were second-teamers and Chaminade’s Ross Reeves made the third team.
Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird saw his team miss qualification for the PacWest tournament for the first time in its the last seven editions, not including the COVID-19-affected 2020-21 season.
“I feel horrible,” Bovaird said. “I’m disappointed for guys like Isaac Amaral-(Artharee) who gave us six years of his life and put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it. To go out without at least an opportunity, that’s where I feel (bad).”
Bovaird resolved the Silverswords would recruit hard in the offseason and get back to playing an exciting brand of basketball.
“Every once in a while you have years like this,” he said. “We know we have a lot of work to do to change things and get back to playing the way we used to.”
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.