Box Score
AZUSA, Calif. - Pac West second team member Bennie Murray (Fairfield, Calif./Will C. Wood) scored 23 points as No. 3 seed Chaminade defeated sixth-seeded Hawai`i Pacific, 74-62, in a first round Pac West Tournament match-up Wednesday night in Azusa, Calif. DeAndre Haskins (Long Beach, Calif./Jordan), who earlier in the day was named the Pac West's Player of the Year, as well as third team member Lee Bailey (Detroit, Mich./Detroit Country Day) and Waly Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/Patterson Prep) each added 13 for CUH.
The Swords led by as many as 11 as they jumped out to a 22-11 margin midway through the first half. But a 19-7 run by the Sea Warriors gave them a 30-29 lead with 4:23 remaining in the half. A Murray 3-pointer two minutes later would give the advantage back to Chaminade as the Swords held a 36-33 halftime lead.
HPU charged back early in the second half and Max Livingston's layup gave the Sea Warriors the lead at 43-42 at the 16:19 mark. For the next 10 minutes, the two squads battled back and forth, with four ties and six lead changes.
CUH took the lead for good at 61-60 on a Haskins free throw with 4:13 remaining. Buckets by Murray and Coulibaly expanded the lead, then Haskins would seal it with a 3-pointer, followed by a jumper to give CUH a double-digit lead with 1:43 remaining.
Malte Ziegenhagen and Marco Cukic led the Sea Warriors with 16 points each.
The Silverswords improved to 18-9 on the year, while HPU fell to 10-16. Chaminade meets second-seeded Grand Canyon in a semifinal match up at 3:30 p.m. HST (5:30 p.m. PST) today. The Antelopes won the only meeting between the teams, 75-64, at GCU Arena on Dec. 5.
