LA JOLLA, Calif. -- No. 4 Hawai'i Pacific University placed five players in double figures as they rolled to a 73-61 victory over Sonoma State on Friday afternoon in the NCAA Division II West Region quarterfinals at RIMAC Arena.
 
The Sharks (29-2), the second seed in the West Region, won the first NCAA Tournament game in school history. The Seawolves (20-9) season comes to a close.
 
The Sharks' 73 points were the most allowed by Sonoma this season, who entered the game sporting the best scoring defense in NCAA Division II allowing 57.2 points a game.
 
HPU advances to face sixth seed Chico State (24-7), who upset third seed Western Washington 96-83 earlier in the day.
 
"We played tight early," said HPU head coach Darren Vorderbruegge. "Then we calmed down at halftime and really came to play. I'm so proud of the way we took care of business in the second half."
 
The Sharks were led by Jordan Martin with 15 points and Colfax Nordquist with 13. Chauncey Orr and Connor Looney each collected 12 points, as Orr led the team with seven rebounds. Clayton Guy added 11 points.
 
Sonoma State was led by Armani Nicolis and Nathan Molony-Benjamin with nine points each.
 
HPU shot 46 percent for the game (21-of-46), including 46 percent from the 3-point arc (10-of-22). But it was the second half numbers that really shined, as the Sharks hit 58 percent from the floor (11-of-19) and 60 percent from the arc (6-of-10). HPU also went 21-of-27 from the free throw line for the contest. Sonoma State hit 46 percent from the floor (22-of-48), with 6-of-16 from the arc (38 percent) and 11-of-15 from the line (73 percent).
 
The Sharks outrebounded the Seawolves 30-25, but suffered one more turnover than Sonoma 13-12.
 
HPU and Sonoma State slugged it out during the opening half with the Sharks building a five-point 30-25 lead with 1:14 to play in the half on Martin's layup. Sonoma answered with a bucket and a Nicolis 3-pointer with four seconds left to send the game to halftime tied at 30.
 
SSU twice got 3-point leads early in the second half, but the Sharks had a run coming. When senior forward Clayton Guy of Kansas City, Mo./Rockhurst got a jumper to fall with 16:46 to play the Sharks kicked into gear with a 19-6 run. Orr's 3-pointer with 15:38 to play broke the last tie with the Seawolves as HPU opened up a 10-point 51-41 lead with 11:51 to play.
 
HPU never let the game get closer again. The Sharks extended the lead to 17-points with just under a minute to play, but the Seawolves hit a pair of 3s as HPU got a free throw from Guy to wrap up the game at 73-61.
 
"I'm really proud that we scored the 73 points on Sonoma," said Vorderbruegge. "That's the most on the team that led the Division II in scoring defense through the conference tournaments. And we did a great job defensively as well."
 
The HPU-Chico State game will be video streamed by host UC San Diego on UCSDTritons.tv, as are all the Men's West Region games.