Box Score SAN DIEGO – At various times this season, different members of the Chaminade University men's basketball team have stepped up to lead the Silverswords to victory. On Saturday, it was
James Harper's turn.
The sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz., played perhaps his finest game in the team's biggest contest of the season. The transfer from Division I Houston Baptist poured in a season-high 31 points, burning the nets for nine 3-pointers – one shy of the school record – as fifth-seeded Chaminade defeated No. 2 seed Dominican University of California, 99-83, in the championship game of the Pacific West Conference Tournament at Golden Gymnasium on the Point Loma University campus.
The Silverswords (19-12) defeated three higher seeds (No. 4 BYU-Hawai'i, No. 1 California Bapist and Dominican) to punch their ticket to next week's NCAA West Regional.
It's the fourth PacWest championship for the 'Swords and their fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Chaminade also earned back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time in school history, having received an at-large berth last season.
Lee Bailey, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, had 14 points and nine assists while
Kiran Shastri was also a threat from beyond the arc, hitting five treys for 19 points.
Tyree Harrison notched his third double-double of the tournament with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Dominican (22-8) was led by Matt Hayes and Myles Carrillo who had 19 points each.
"What an awesome feeling, winning a championship," said Chaminade third-year head coach
Eric Bovaird, whose team reached the conference tournament final last year before falling to Dixie State. "So proud of this group of guys, we believed from Day 1 we could be a really good team and it's great to see it materialize.
"I'm just so glad
Bill Villa (Chaminade's Director of Athletics) gave me this opportunity. I can't thank him enough. This one was for him!"
The 'Swords buried a season-high 15 3-pointers on the game and consistently kept the Penguins at bay throughout the evening.
In a sign of things to come, Harper connected on a pair of triples in the game's first three minutes while Harrison hit a pair of layups as the 'Swords grabbed a 10-7 lead. Bailey's two free throws completed a 14-5 run, giving CUH its first double-digit lead at 24-13 with 12:15 left in the first half.
Two more Harper treys helped extend the Chaminade lead to as many as 14 at 34-20 with 7:15 left, but the Penguins would rally, cutting the deficit down to five on a Josh Armstrong layup with 1:18 remaining. The Silverswords answered with a 3 by Shastri, followed by Harper's fifth triple in as many attempts of the half as Chaminade had a 50-39 lead at the break.
Dominican would open the second half by closing to within eight points three times in the opening minutes, but the 'Swords had an answer each time. Harper's eighth 3-pointer of the game helped extend the CUH lead to 15 at 68-53 with 12:26 remaining.
Carrillo tried to will the Penguins back, scoring 10 points during a two-minute span as DUC closed to within seven at 76-69 with just over seven minutes remaining. Chaminade replied by getting a 3-ball from Shastri and layups from Harrison and
AJ Mathew to extend the advantage back to 13.
Dominican made one final charge. Hayes' triple cut the 'Swords' lead to 90-83 with 2:48 left and after a Chaminade turnover, the Penguins had a chance to get even closer. But Carrillo's 3-point attempt with just over two minutes remaining was off the mark. Bailey hauled in the board, and Shastri applied the dagger, burying 3-ball to get the lead back to double-digits for CUH at 93-83 with 1:40 left. Bailey's wide-open layup less than a minute later would all but end it and the Silverswords' celebration was on.
All told, Chaminade was 34-of-62 from the floor for 54.8 percent while making 57.7 percent of their 3-point tries (15-of-26). Conversely, Dominican was 26-of-62 (46.8 percent) from the floor and 9-of-24 from long distance. The 'Swords also led the rebounding category, 36-33. Chaminade also had 20 assists to only nine turnovers while DUC had 15 and nine, respectively.
Along with Bailey, Shastri and Harper were named to the all-tournament team.
The team returns home to Honolulu tomorrow and will find out where their next destination is when the NCAA Division II Selection Show airs at 4:30 p.m. Hawai'i time on NCAA.com.
2014 PacWest All-Tournament Team
Lee Bailey, Chaminade (MVP)
James Harper, Chaminade
Kiran Shastri, Chaminade
Myles Carrillo, Dominican
Dominque Taplin, Dominican
Farbod Farman, Hawai'i Pacific
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