Box Score HONOLULU – Monday's game could be defined as the one that got away from the Chaminade University men's basketball team.
Despite rolling to a sizeable lead early on and an epic comeback in overtime, the Silverswords could not overcome an Azusa Pacific squad who hit timely shots, particularly from Sharif Watson and Troy Leaf who both hit big buckets down the stretch, as CUH fell 85-82 in double overtime, in a Pacific West Conference game at McCabe Gym on Monday.
The loss by the Silverswords (12-8 overall, 9-3 PacWest) spoiled monstrous performances from freshman
Kuany Kuany and sophomore transfer
James Harper. Kuany tallied his sixth double-double of the season with 23 points and a career-high 22 rebounds. Harper meanwhile hit for a career-best 21 points, knocking down four 3-pointers in the process.
LyDell Cardwell tallied a career-high 23 points for the Cougars (11-8, 7-6) and got 17 from Leaf with Watson and Andy Jones scoring 15 apiece.
The setback, the second in a row for Chaminade, also dropped the second-place 'Swords three games behind conference-leading California Baptist (19-1, 13-1), which defeated Hawai'i Pacific earlier in the evening. Chaminade owns a half-game lead over third-place Dixie State.
The 'Swords took control early, scoring the game's first six points on a
Tyree Harrison dunk and jumpers by
Kevin Hu and
Kuany Kuany. Eventually, the lead swelled to 22-10 with 7:32 left in the half on Hu's basket. But APU caught fire, out-scoring CUH, 18-5, the rest of the way, taking a 28-27 advantage at intermission.
Kuany tallied his double-double in the first half alone with 11 points and 10 rebounds with Harrison, Hu and
Rhys Murphy scoring four each.
Cardwell had seven points to pace Azusa Pacific at the break.
APU continued to ride the momentum of its first half end, building the lead to 46-37 with 11 minutes left, its largest of the game.
The 'Swords then went on a 3-point barrage with a
Kiran Shastri trey and two by Harper, the latter giving them a 49-48 lead with eight minutes remaining, part of a 9-0 run. After a pair of free throws by the Cougars which put them back on top at 50-49, Harper buried another 3 to get the advantage back to the Silverswords at 52-50.
Harper, the Houston Baptist transfer, continued to have a hot hand, even nailing an off-balance 15-footer from the left wing putting the 'Swords up, 58-54, with 3:29 left.
APU would tie it at 58 on Leaf's jumper, but Leaf fouled Harper during a 3-point attempt with 1:12 left. Harper made 2-of-3, giving Chaminade a 60-58 advantage. However, a thunderous alley-oop jam by Watson with a minute left again tied it at 60, helping to send the game to overtime.
APU opened the extra session scoring the first four points with baskets by Watson and Leaf. Eventually, the Cougars owned a 73-66 with only 20 seconds remaining. But an incredible rally would send the McCabe Gym crowd of 200 into a frenzied state.
Kuany gathered in a missed Shastri 3-ball and sank the putback layup. Hu then stripped Jared Zoeller on the inbounds pass and, after the ball pinballed between several players, Kuany picked it up on the right block, missed the initial attempt, but hit another putback to cut the deficit to 73-70 with eight seconds remaining. After a 'Swords timeout, Leaf received the inbounds pass but stepped on the baseline, giving Chaminade the ball with five seconds left. Then on the subsequent inbound pass,
Lee Bailey spotted Shastri open in the left corner and the freshman from Orinda, Calif., drilled the tying 3-pointer, sending the game into a second overtime period.
(Click
here to see Shastri's game-tying shot).
In the opening stages of the second OT, Watson and Leaf would strike again, with an alley-oop dunk and 3-pointer, respectively, putting APU up 78-73. Again, the Silverswords battled back, getting a Harrison free throw, a Harper basket and a pair of free throws by Hu to knot the game at 78 with 1:19 remaining. But Leaf calmly knocked down a 3-ball with a minute left, giving APU an 81-78 advantage. The teams traded points and Kevin Stafford's two free throws gave Azusa Pacific an 83-80 lead with 35 seconds left.
Shastri hit a pull-up jumper to bring CUH to within a point with 20 seconds left, but in a near replay of the end of the first overtime, Watson received the inbounds pass, was trapped in the corner and had the ball stolen by Kuany. However, Harper couldn't find the mark and Watson made up for his gaffe by grabbing the board and hitting both free throws on the other end, making it 85-82. The 'Swords had a chance to tie it, but Watson blocked Kuany's 3-point attempt as time expired.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the final stat sheet with CUH shooting 39 percent to APU's 41. The Silverswords controlled the rebounding edge, 56-40, but assists, 3-pointers made blocks and steals being either equal or near-equal However, has been the case in several losses this season, free throws were an issue for Chaminade, which made only 13-of-21. Azusa Pacific was 13-of-15 from the charity stripe.
Before the game, Bailey was honored for scoring his 1,000
th point on Jan. 25 while the team was on the road. The junior received a commemorative basketball to celebrate the feat.
The 'Swords are back on the road when they face Hawai'i-Hilo Friday on the Big Island with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.
