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George DeLeon scored 18 points and three others scored in double figures to lead Fresno Pacific to a 79-58 season-opening win over Holy Names at the Special Events Center on Saturday night.

Matt Christman added 17 points for the Sunbirds, Kenny Bradford had 12 and Zach Kaul chipped in with 11 as the Sunbirds showed no signs of early-season rust and looked like a team that had played together all season.

"You're alway nervous heading into a first game because you don't know where you're at as a team, you have no measuring stick to go off of," said head coach Chris Wright, who begins his second season. "We did a good job of playing together and we played well tonight. Our seniors were really good. We've got a couple things to work on, but I'm very pleased with where we're at."

Holy Names had the bulk of its team back from a group that nearly defeated the Sunbirds in an 87-85 game in Oakland last season. It was FPU though that looked like the veteran team.

After giving up the game's first bucket, FPU went on a 17-0 run and never looked back using their superior athleticism and some quality three-point shooting to get up 47-23 by the halftime break.

FPU would go up by as many as 35, leading 70-35 with eight minutes left in the game, before a late run by the Hawks made the final score slightly more respectable.

The Sunbirds used their zone defense to give the HNU guards fits all night, forcing 33 Hawk turnovers and limiting HNU to just 38 percent from the field and 24 percent from long-range.

Antonio Credit was a big reason for the Sunbird success on defense as he, Jake Hager and Eric Hipolito all did a good job of running the floor and covering the corners in the zone. Credit finished with nine points, five rebounds and four steals. Hipolito led the team with six boards and added seven points.

FPU had some deep three-point shooting on display for the home opener crowd as Bradford, Kaul and Christman all knocked down treys from well beyond the arc.

Another bright spot for the Sunbirds was the return of senior point guard Adrian Hurtado, who has worked tirelessly to come back from an injury that sidelined him for all of last year. Hurtado played a strong 22 minutes off the bench and led the team with four assists.

The one area of concern for the Sunbirds came at the free-throw line. The team had no trouble using their athleticism to get to the line, but made just 21-of-36 from the stripe (58%).

Holy Names was led by Karlos Grier, a Concordia transfer and former Central High product. He scored 13 points and Simba Gwanyanya added 11. The Sunbirds did a great job on HNU point guard Mike McElroy, who turned the ball over seven times.

FPU will now turn its attention to Southern Oregon, another team they played a close game with on the road last season. The Sunbirds will host the Owls at 7 pm on Thursday night.