LAIE, O'ahu, Hawai'i – A battle between the top two scoring teams in the Pacific West Conference did not disappoint.
The Chaminade University men's basketball team got 20 points and five 3-pointers from
Kiran Shastri and 17 each from
James Harper and
Sam Daly as the Silverswords scored one of their biggest wins in the early season, a 102-99 thriller over BYU-Hawai'i Saturday at the Cannon Activities Center.
Chaminade improved to 4-6 overall and 3-1 in the Pacific West Conference. After starting the season 0-5, the 'Swords have won four of their last five. Saturday's win over BYUH was also the team's first since March 2014 after the Seasiders swept the season series last year.
Scott Friel poured in 35 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lead BYU-Hawai'i, which suffered its first conference loss of the year, falling to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in the PacWest.
Rohndell Goodwin added 16 points and eight rebounds for the 'Swords while
Kuany Kuany had 11 points and 10 boards for his fourth double-double of the year. Kuany now has 981 career points and is only 19 away from reaching the 1,000-point barrier.
Kevin Hu, who reached the millennium mark last week, continued to move up in the program scoring list, hitting for 14 points, giving him 1,026 in his career. The Taipei, Taiwan native moved past Chris Reaves (1,017 points) and Chico Furtado (1,021) into 11
th all time.
Chaminade, which entered the game tied for 25
th nationally in scoring at 89.0 points per game, shot a blistering 57.6 percent (38-of-66) from the floor, a season-high. It was also its sixth straight game of 50 percent or better shooting. Even more impressive was the Silverswords' staggering second-half shooting of 66.7 percent (22-of-33).
Four 'Swords shot at least 63 percent from the floor with Shastri and Hu each hitting six of eight (75 percent), Harper with six of nine (66.7) and Daly at 63.6 (7-of-11). Even Goodwin had a solid shooting night at 50 percent (7-of-14 shots).
BYUH, which was 30
th in the country at 88.1 ppg and ninth in the nation in shooting percentage at 51.2 percent, was 39-of-78 (50 percent) from the floor.
The 'Swords grabbed a 13-7 lead after the game's first five minutes behind two Kuany triples and another from Harper. BYUH then went on a 10-0 run for its largest lead of 17-13 with 13 minutes left. Chaminade responded with buckets from Hu and Harper to knot the score at 17 each.
From there, it was nip-and-tuck as neither squad could establish a run. Then with 11 seconds left in the half, Shastri splashed a triple to give Chaminade a 40-37 halftime advantage.
The 'Swords came out of the gates quickly after the break with Hu's layup and Harper's 3-pointer, giving them a 45-37 lead less than a minute into the second half. But the Seasiders countered and eventually took a 66-64 lead at the 11:24 mark on Cory Lange's 3-pointer, one of his five triples on the night.
But with second-chance layups from Goodwin and Kuany, a layup from Daly and a Shastri 3-ball, the 'Swords went on an 11-2 run to build their largest lead at 81-72 with seven minutes left. However BYUH was unfazed and rallied, twice reducing the deficit to a single point in the five minutes.
But Goodwin hit a leaner then on BYUH's next possession, Daly forced a steal and hit a layup to put Chaminade up 96-91 with less than a minute remaining. Kuany and Shastri then helped keep the Siders at bay by combining to hit six of eight free throws in the waning seconds to help secure the win.
The 'Swords were out-rebounded 44-32 but hit 11 triples. They also dished out 23 assists.
The free throw line proved to be a difference maker with Chaminade hitting 15 of its 20 attempts. Meanwhile, BYUH was only 12-of-21 from the free throw line.
The win also gave Chaminade a valuable point in the next round of the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge.
The Silverswords will take the Christmas break off then return to McCabe Gym for their final non-conference game against Viterbo on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 1 p.m.
