The diameter of a basketball hoop is 18 inches.

For Brigham Young-Hawai'i's Eric Boyce last night against Hawai'i Pacific the rim must have looked the size of a hula hoop after a slow start.

Boyce scored all 26 of his points in the second half, including 7 of 8 on 3-point attempts, and Lucas Alves had 18 points and 10 rebounds as BYU-Hawai'i beat HPU, 74-63, at Blaisdell Arena.

"After that first couple of shots went in, you feel like the rim is three times bigger and everything you throw up, it's going to go in," said Boyce, a 6-foot senior guard. "The feeling I had was great."

BYU-Hawai'i went on a 24-7 run to extend its lead to 60-41 with 8:20 remaining. Boyce hit five 3-pointers and Alves added six points during the spurt.

The Sea Warriors got as close as 69-61 with 2:12 remaining.

"They just played harder," HPU coach Darren Vorderbruegge said. "They were out-rebounding us and getting to loose balls."

BYU-Hawai'i improved to 13-5 overall and 4-1 in the Pacific West Conference. HPU dropped to 7-10 and 1-5.

Boyce was averaging 9.1 points per game and 41.4 percent from 3-point range. His career high is 31 points against Grand Canyon last Feb. 16.

In the first half, Boyce was 0 of 3 — all from 3-point range. In the second, he was 8 of 9 from the field and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line.

"Eric's a great shooter, BYU-Hawai'i coach Ken Wagner said. "It's pretty unusual to have open shots, as he did in the first half, and he would miss them. Like the good player he is, he came out and had a great second half."

Alves, a 6-9 freshman forward/center, finished 7 of 8 from the field and had five blocks for the Seasiders.

"At first I thought he started out kind of slow," Wagner said of Alves. "He wasn't working like I thought he should work, but he runs the court extremely well and gets easy baskets because of that. He got a couple of crucial rebounds."

The Sea Warriors collapsed on Alves and 6-9 sophomore forward Wu-Tai Hao, leaving Boyce open primarily on the left side.

"Typically when somebody gets hot we usually have something to do with it," Vorderbruegge said. "Defensively, we were slow getting to him."

The Seasiders shot 24 of 49 from the field, including 10 of 22 from 3-point range. In the second half, they were 14 of 22, including 8 of 10 from 3-point range.

Rishi Kakad, a 6-2 freshman guard, scored 27 points for HPU, which shot 21 of 57 from the field.

CHAMINADE 64, NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR 62 (OT)

Zack Whiting scored 19 points, including a jumper that sent the game into overtime tied at 56 and two free throws that put the Silverswords (11-6, 3-2 PacWest) ahead of the Argos (5-8, 0-4) 63-62 in overtime, at Belmont, Calif. Stewart Kussler added 15 points and Marko Kolaric 12 for Chaminade. Ryan Cooper scored 24 points for Notre Dame de Namur.

GRAND CANYON 73, HILO 60

Bryan Lee scored 18 points as the Antelopes (8-5, 3-1 PacWest) beat the Vulcans (6-11, 3-2) at Phoenix. Vince Alvarado scored 13 points and Rocky Jorgensen 11 for Hilo.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.