Box Score HONOLULU – After three difficult games against NCAA Division I opponents in the EA Sports Maui Invitational last week, the Chaminade men's basketball team dove head-first into Pacific West Conference action against Hawai'i-Hilo Monday, earning a 78-68 win at McCabe Gym.
Freshman
Kuany Kuany, making his first career start, scored 23 points and hauled in 13 rebounds, both career highs for the Swords.
Lee Bailey, coming off two standout games in Maui against then-No. 11 Gonzaga and Minnesota, added 15 points with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Tyree Harrison was perfect from the floor (6-for-6) with 14 points and five boards.
Kevin Hu had 12.
UH-Hilo was led by Joey Rodriguez's 16 points.
The Swords led briefly in the opening stages of the first half, but a 14-2 UHH run gave the visitors a 17-9 advantage at the 12:42 mark. The Vulcans would hold off the Silverswords for the remainder of the half, taking a 34-32 lead into halftime.
Chaminade would score the first six points of the second half on buckets by Harrison, Bailey and
AJ Mathew. Hilo then responded tying the game at 47 with 12:42 left. But a 12-1 CUH run, sparked by Bailey's eight points during the surge, would give CUH its largest lead at 59-48 with 9:41 remaining. The Vulcans would make the home crowd of 170 uneasy, closing to within five points three times over the next six minutes. However, layups by Hu and Harrison and a 3-pointer by Kuany would seal the game for Chaminade down the stretch.
The Silverswords bettered the Vulcans, percentage-wise, 47.6 to 37.3, from the floor (30-of-62 for CUH; 22-of-59 for UHH). The rebounding totals were equal (37 each), but CUH dominated the points in the paint, 46-20.
With the Swords' women having defeated UH-Hilo in overtime earlier in the day, it also marked the first time since January 10, 2011 against Dominican that both the men and women won on the same day.
The Swords return to conference action Saturday when they face in-city rival, Hawai'i Pacific, at McCabe Gym. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. with live streaming audio available on goswords.com.
