Marquis Moore scored 93 points in three games for Hawai`i Pacific, finishing his season on a scoring rampage. Klay Brown of Academy of Art had a strong line of on the defensive end of the court of seven steals, four blocked shots and 11 defensive rebounds to claim Defender of the Week and Azusa Pacific won their eighth and nine games in a row to come into the conference tournament red hot.

2022-23 Results/Schedule
2022-23 Standings
2022-23 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Hawaii Pacific’s Marquis Moore, G/F, Sr., 6-6, 220, Los Angeles, Calif.        
Hawai`i Pacific’s Marquis Moore averaged 31 points a game in the final week of his season/career as the Sharks wrapped up 2022-23 in southern California. Moore hit for 38 points against Biola, 31 versus Concordia and 24 versus Azusa Pacific for 93 total counters. During that torrid stretch, he hit 17-of-19 free throws, 8-of-13 three-point attempts and shot 64 percent from the field overall (34-for-52). He also had 14 rebounds, ten assists and a pair of steals. The former Southern Utah player finished the season averaging 17.6 points per game, third in the PacWest.

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Klay Brown, G, Sr., 6-4, 195, South Jamaica, New York
Academy of Art’s Klay Brown won the first Defender of the Week award of the 2022-23 season and he also wins the last. Brown helped the Urban Knights to a pair of wins to gain the No. 3 seed in the tournament, topping Dominican (75-70) and Fresno Pacific (103-69). Against the Sunbirds, the Queens native had 15 points, five rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks. Versus the Penguins, Brown had three steals and eight more rebounds. 11 of his rebounds in the two games were on the defensive end. For the season, Brown led the PacWest in steals (2.4), was fifth in blocks (1.1) and tenth in assists (2.9).

AZUSA COMES TO HONOLULU RED HOT: The PacWest Team of the Week is the AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS. Azusa Pacific topped Hawaii Pacific (78-73) and Concordia (80-60) for their eighth and ninth wins in a row. The Cougars have the No. 2 seed in this week’s PacWest Tournament. Bryce Sloan had a perfect game in the win over the Golden Eagles with 26 points on 9-for-9 shooting including two three pointers and 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Justin Hemsley had a double-double in the same game (17 points/14 rebounds). The Cougars had a 44-22 rebound edge. In the five-point win over the Sharks, Hayden Gray had 18, Ken West had 14 and Sloan had ten.

FIELD IS SET, SIX TO CONVENE IN OAHU THIS WEEK FOR TOURNAMENT: The final six are cemented and the seeding is set for the 2023 Pacific West Conference tournament, the earliest that the field has been settled in a long time. Regular season champion Point Loma has secured the top seed with a 20-0 record and a first round bye. Azusa Pacific (16-4) has the other bye. On Thursday, March 2, the No. 6 seed Chaminade will take on No. 3 Academy of Art to open the tournament (5 pm HT), followed by No. 4 Hawaii Hilo vs. No. 5 Biola (7:15 HT). The winners advance (loser’s are out) to Friday’s semifinals games at those same two times. Saturday’s championship is set for 4:30 pm. Ticket information and other tournament info can be found at the Tournament Central webpage, for the March 2-4 tournament in McCabe Gymnasium at Chaminade University.

FIRST OFFICIAL NCAA POLL FEATURES FIVE PACWEST TEAMS: The first NCAA poll of the 2022-23 season was released last Wednesday, with five of the ten teams listed coming from the PacWest Conference. One more poll will come out this Wednesday, with the final NCAA announcement set for Sunday (March 6) that will announce the NCAA West Region participants. That group of eight will include the three conference tournament champions from the PacWest, CCAA and GNAC. Last week, the list looked like this: (1) Point Loma, (2) Cal State San Bernardino, (3) St. Martin’s, (4) Azusa Pacific, (5) Montana State Billings, (6) Academy of Art, (7) Cal State San Marcos, (8) Hawaii Hilo, (9) Seattle Pacific, (10) Biola.

FINAL STAT TALLY: Point Loma’s Kaden Anderson led the PacWest in scoring at 22.5 points per game, while Hawaii Hilo’s Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones paced the league in rebounds with 9.1 per game. Tait-Jones’ teammate Nadjrick Peat led in blocked shots (2.5) and Hilo’s Carlos Ramsey, Jr. paced with a .538 field goal percentage. Chaminade’s Braden Olson led in assists (5.4) and ART U’s Klay Brown led in steals (2.4). Ken West of APU led with 81 three-pointers made and HPU’s Melo Sanchez shot .468 from behind the arch to lead that category.