Sea Warriors beat Seasiders in OT for season’s first win streak

Adam Reinking and Rick Wilson each scored a team-high 19 points, with Wilson having seven in overtime, as host Hawaii Pacific defeated Brigham Young-Hawaii 88-82 in Pacific West Conference basketball last night at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.

Finis Harwell added 15 points and Audrius Peciukas 11 for the Sea Warriors, who improved to 3-6 in the PacWest, 7-16 overall. They also won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Austin Smylie had a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Eric Boyce added 20 points in defeat for the Seasiders, who fell to 4-5, 12-10.

"We've been trying to (win two straight games) from the first win of the season," HPU coach Kelly Wells said. "And sometimes, it's the hardest thing to do."

The game was close from start to finish, with 13 lead changes and 10 ties.

With the score tied at 72 after regulation, Wilson's 3-pointer with 2:56 remaining opened the scoring in the extra period and finally gave the Sea Warriors a lead they didn't relinquish.

Wilson hit a jumper in the lane about a minute and a half later and then followed with two free throws with 22 seconds remaining -- after the Seasiders' Danny Jackson hit a 3-pointer -- to make the score 85-80.

HPU hit three more free throws the rest of the way, and Smylie added a late -- but meaningless -- tip-in for the final score.

"The last time (BYUH) played they scored 116 points and we can't score 116," Wells said. "We had to make sure we controlled some of the tempo in the game and we finally were able to do that."

The Seasiders last held the lead, at 68-67, after two free throws by Wu Tai-hao with 3:54 remaining in regulation.

But a 3-pointer by Donnell Dobbins and two free throws by Joseph Ison outmatched the four points put in by Smylie in the last minutes to force the teams to play 5 more minutes.

Though the game got much more rugged in the second half and overtime, both teams shot well in the first half. HPU was at 58 percent (19-for-33) overall, and 56 percent (5-for-9) from 3-point range. BYUH shot 54 percent (13-for-24) overall, and a blistering 63 percent (5-for-8) from beyond the arc.

The Sea Warriors held the biggest lead at any point with their 45-37 advantage at halftime.

Though HPU has struggled through this season, the Sea Warriors now lead the season series with the Seasiders 2-1, having won the last two times they've met.

The longtime rivals will play again in the season finale for both teams on March 3, when BYUH hosts.

"We're just trying to build momentum," Wells said. "We hope we haven't done that too late (in the season), and we look forward to seeing them again."

Chaminade 114, Grand Canyon 107, OT

Chris Reaves scored 32 points and had six rebounds to lead the Silverswords past the Antelopes last night at McCabe Gym.

Zack Whiting added 12 points and 13 assists for Chaminade (16-8), which outscored Grand Canyon 16-7 in the overtime period.

Rich Davis had 32 points and Noe Alonzo had 27 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Antelopes (17-7).