HONOLULU – It was the tale of two halves for the Western Washington University men's basketball team in its non-conference game Friday evening against Hawai'i Pacific University.

The Vikings held a 13-point lead late in the first half, but HPU caught fire in the second half to defeat the Vikings 86-71 in The Shark Tank.

WWU finished its trip to Hawai'i with a pair of losses against Chaminade (107-98) and HPU after hitting the road with a three-game winning streak. The Vikings are 3-4 heading into next Friday's home opener against UC Colorado Springs.

Trailing 51-44 at the 15:13 mark in the second half, the Sharks went on a 24-9 run over a nine-minute span to take a 68-60 lead, and never looked back en route to the 15-point victory. The Vikings limited HPU to 35.5-percent shooting in the first half (11-for-31), but the Sharks answered going 22-for-31 (71.0-percent) in the second half.

Sophomore guard Aidan Rice continued his hot start to the season scoring a career high 32 points on 10-for-17 shooting, connecting on 6-for-8 from beyond the three point arc. Junior guard Nehemiah Pollard added 12 points and seven rebounds.

HPU, which gained national notoriety earlier this season by defeating Boise State 79-78 in an exhibition game, improved to 3-1 on the season. Quentin Meza led the Sharks with 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting and Joshua West added 19 points with five assists and five rebounds. HPU scored 31 points off WWU's 20 turnovers.

The Vikings (3-4) make their home debut next Friday (Nov. 28) hosting Colorado-Colorado Springs at 5 pm on WECU Court in Carver Gym. The complete 2025-26 WWU men's basketball schedule is available online at WWUVikings.com, complete with links to follow the team on the road, updated statistics and team information.

Here is a look at the statistical comparison between WWU and Hawai'i Pacific:

Here is a look at the Vikings record breakdown for the 2025-26 season: