Box Score HONOLULU, HI– The Swords are on a streak. Chaminade earned another conference win this evening, defeating the Point Loma Nazarene 62-60 in McCabe Gym. Chaminade is nipping at the heels of Dixie State for the #1 seed in the First Annual PacWest Conference Tournament hosted at Azusa Pacific in Azusa, CA.
Chaminade got going early and led 18-11 with 11:23 left in the first half following a three by sophomore forward
Mike Green (Dublin, OH/Dublin Coffman). A quick 7-0 run by PLNU tied the contest at 18-18. The Swords responded right back and led 29-19 with 3:31 left in the half. Chaminade led 36-24 at the half. Senior guard De'Andre Haskins (Long Beach, CA/Jordan) led the way with 12 first half points.
Lee Bailey (Detroit, MI/Detroit Country Day) added 7 points and 5 rebounds. CUH shot a scorching-hot 54% in the first half, while Point Loma Nazarene shot 39% from the floor. The Swords led 17-12 on the glass in the half.
Chaminade continued their solid play in the second half, extending the lead to 55-35 with 10:10 left in the contest after a fast break three by freshman
Kevin Hu (Taipei, Taiwan/Songsan). The Sea Lions responded with a 9-0 run to cut the Chaminade lead to 55-46 with just under eight minutes left in the contest.
Point Loma Nazarene refused to go away and trailed 60-53 with 3:32 left in the contest. Five points later, PLNU still trailed, but by only two points, 60-58 with 49.2 left. Following a Sea Lion turnover, Chaminade had the ball with 37.6 left. Senior guard
Bennie Murray (Fairfield, CA/ Will C. Wood) was fouled and made one of two free throws for a three point lead. Following two missed three-point attempts by Point Loma,
Lee Bailey added another free throw to help preserve the Silverswords win, 62-60.
Point Loma was led by Oivind Lundestad with 12 points.
Chaminade shot 47% from the floor, while holding PLNU to 37% shooting.
The Swords move to 14-8 on the year and 11-3 in the PacWest with the win. The Sea Lions fall to 4-18 and 1-13 in the PacWest on the year with the loss. Chaminade is back at home against Cal Baptist in PacWest Conference action on February 16
th. Tip is set for 7:30 PM HT in McCabe Gym.
