IRVINE, Calif. – In a possible postseason preview, the Concordia University Irvine Eagles flew past the Hawaii Pacific Sharks to complete the series sweep on Wednesday night with an 84-68 home victory.

Darius Lee led four Eagles in double digits with 17 points. Senior Jamel White scored 15 points and a team-high six assists, Austin Clarke added a dozen on 4-for-5 shooting from downtown and Robert McCoy chipped in with 11 points and three blocks.

Concordia did a fantastic job protecting the ball and only committed three turnovers in the first half. Leading 15-10, the Eagles went on a 14-4 run that included a three-point play from Cameron English. Kayle Knuckles dropped a dime to the senior center who made a driving layup in traffic despite getting fouled. Concordia then extended the lead to 29-14 thanks a three-pointer by Clarke.  

Jamel White provided one of the big highlights of the first half when he jumped a passing lane, stole the ball and converted a breakaway layup to put CUI up 36-18. Moments later, Lee threw a touchdown pass to White who saved the ball from going out of bounds with a perfect lob to Rob McCoy. McCoy threw down a thunderous dunk to ignite the home crowd and help CUI build a 20-point lead. He scored all of his 11 points in the first half and the Eagles led the Sharks comfortably by a score of 43-25 at the break.

"We started off focused," said Lee. "Coming in we were saying we needed to match their energy and coming in off the bench we were just trying to match everything the starters did for us, locking up (on defense) and getting the best shots we could get."

In the second half, the game slowed down for a bit with both teams trying to clamp down better on defense and more fouls were committed. Clarke hit a couple more treys and Lee kept attacking the rim and converting layups while getting to the charity stripe as well. Senior Ronald Blain led HPU with 21 points but the Eagles had too many solid contributions and played well as a unit throughout the night. Clarke finished with a game-best +23, White was a +22 and McCoy +20. Nine different Eagles found their way into the scoring column and they held the Sharks to just 3-for-18 shooting from three-point land.

"Our guys did a good job staying focused and we made a lot of plays," said CUI head coach Ken Ammann. "I thought everybody played well and really competed. We're a really well-balanced team that's hard to go against. I liked how the guys have great focus right now and are looking to improve and finish what we want to finish.

"I thought we really did a good job communicating on the court especially in the second half," added Ammann.

The Eagles will continue their five-game homestand this Saturday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. when they host Chaminade as part of their next PacWest doubleheader. The women's teams will square off first on Saturday starting at 5:30 p.m.

For the full CUI men's basketball schedule, click here.