HONOLULU, Hawaii --- Biola Men's Basketball began its PacWest Conference tenure on Thursday night with the tough test of visiting the defending conference champions, Hawaii Pacific.

As if facing the defending champions was not a big enough test, they had to face the Sharks on a night when one of their players exploded for 28 points and 12 rebounds. Niksha Federico led all players in scoring and made 11 of his 19 shots from the floor. That performance was a major factor in the Eagles' eventual 67-54 loss.

The Eagles were killed by the three-point shot in the first half. Twenty-one of Hawaii Pacific's 34 first-half points came from behind the arc. The Sharks led 34-19 at the half as Biola could never really get the offense going.

Just 27 percent of Biola's field goals fell through the hoop in that challenging first half and no single player had more than two made field goals. Christian Carroll was responsible for the Eagles' only three-point make in the first 20 minutes when he drained one 18 minutes in. BU went 1-of-13 from distance.

The scoring began to take better shape in the second half for BU. The Eagles reached their 19-point first-half total within the first 10 and a half minutes of the second period. This effort was led by Blake Shannon, Jr. as the senior managed six points in that span. Trevor Treinen also had five points.

Even with the early uptick in the second stanza, the first-half production from HPU proved to be too much to overcome as the hosting Sharks spoiled Dr. Dave Holmquist's PacWest debut.

BU did manage to outscore the Sharks 35-33 in the second half and looked a lot better defensively. Isaiah Jones was blocking balls in the post, forcing the Sharks to continue to shoot the ball, but their hot shooting did not hold up as well in the final 20 minutes.

Shannon and Levi Auble ended up with the team lead with 13 points a piece and Auble's team-high 10 rebounds gave the junior his second double-double in a row.

Biola's second-half surge helped the team end up shooting a respectable 37 percent, while their defense put pressure enough on HPU's shooters to drop their shooting percentage all the way down to 38 by the end of the second period.

The Eagles were outrebounded by seven and outscored in the painted area by eight. Most of those points in the paint were in transition or quick, cutting layups triggered by solid ball movement. HPU was credited with 17 assists in the game, while the Eagles' were only given credit for four.

Biola will look to bounce back quickly from this loss as their Hawaii trip continues on Saturday afternoon at Hawaii Hilo. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. PT, but it is subject to change as the game may need to be moved to a new location.

The Eagles' loss today dropped them to 5-3 (0-1 PacWest), while the hosting Sharks improved to 4-3 (1-0 PacWest).