HONOLULU – Dixie State has been the proverbial thorn in the side of the Chaminade University men's basketball team in recent years. History repeated itself Tuesday at McCabe Gym.
The Silverswords couldn't hang on to a double-digit first-half lead as the Red Storm again found a way to defeat Chaminade, this time coming away with an 86-83 win.
It was Dixie State's fifth straight win over Chaminade in the series and the ninth in its last 10 meetings between the two Pacific West Conference foes.
Kiran Shastri buried a season-high six 3-pointers for a season-high-tying 18 points for the Silverswords, who fell to 4-7 overall and 1-4 in the PacWest, the program's worst conference start through five games since the 1997-98 season.
Kevin Hu contributed with 17 points and five rebounds before fouling out.
Frankie Eteuati, who was out the last month, returned to the floor to post his finest game this season with a season-bests of 14 points and seven rebounds with three blocked shots while hitting 7-of-12 from the floor.
Kuany Kuany followed with 14 points, seven boards and four assists.
Mark Ogden led Dixie State with 22 points, shooting a blistering 8-for-9 from the floor. Mason Sawyer contributed with 18 points.
The Silverswords came out on fire to start the game, scoring nine straight points behind Kuany's four. The 'Swords continued their torrid pace as two Eteuati buckets and a layup by
Kahanu Pu`ulei-Auld built their lead to 20-6 just five minutes in.
The Red Storm battled back, going on an 18-4 run to pull even at 24, but Shastri scored eight points to key an 18-5 Chaminade run to build its advantage back to 44-31 with four minutes left in the half. Again, DSU rallied back as a 9-2 run to end the first half had Chaminade leading 48-40.
The Red Storm continued their momentum after the break as Odgen accounted for eight of their 15 points to open the second half. DSU then took its first lead of the game at 62-61 on DeQuan Thompson's jumper with 15 minutes left in the game. Baskets by Eteuati and Hu would tilt the lead back to Chaminade's way twice, but Ogden's jumper followed by Robbie Nielson's 3-pointer gave the Red Storm the lead for good at 70-67 with 10:49 left.
Dixie State would continue to ride its surge, holding its largest lead at 80-71 with just under five minutes left.
Lee Bailey's layup helped trigger an 8-1 run the next two minutes, capped by Shastri's final triple of the night as the 'Swords found themselves down 81-79 with over two minutes left.
After DSU built its lead back to five, Bailey hit a pair of free throws to put whittle Chaminade's deficit back down to 86-83 with just eight seconds left. But Dixie State would giftwrap a chance for the 'Swords as Sawyer missed two clinching free throws, keeping the deficit at three. Bailey was fouled before he could launch the potential game-tying 3-ball, putting him on the line with 1.1 seconds left. Bailey couldn't convert the front end of the 1-and-1 as the buzzer sounded on the rebound.
Chaminade, which shot over 54 percent from the floor in the first half, was held to 39 in the second half for a percentage of 47. Conversely, the Red Storm shot 46.6 percent in the game, but nearly 52 in the second half.
The Silverswords held the rebounding edge, 37-30, and dished out more assists (14-12). Chaminade knocked down 11 triples, which tied its season-high.
However, Dixie State took advantage of Chaminade fouls in the second half. CUH piled up 10 team fouls by the five minute mark while the Red Storm was only whistled for two. DSU was 14-of-18 from the charity stripe in the second half alone while CUH went to the line only 12 times in the game.
The 'Swords were able to hold all-PacWest center Zach Robbins only eight points on the night, seven below his season average.
The Silverswords will wrap up their current home stand Thursday against Fresno Pacific. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. with live streaming audio on GoSwords.com.
