HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team ended the 2015 calendar year on a high note, blasting visiting Viterbo University of Wisconsin 74-42 in a non-conference game Thursday at McCabe Gym.
Kuany Kuany recorded his fifth double-double of the season in the win, pulling down 12 rebounds and scoring 19 points, giving him 1,000 in his career, becoming the 15
th member to join the exclusive club. The junior from Melbourne, Australia was 8-of-11 from the floor and hit two of his three triples. His rebounding numbers also gave him 555 career boards, moving him past Kenroy James into seventh all-time.
Kiran Shastri also had 19 points, burying five 3-pointers, as he also achieved a team milestone, moving past Mark Wells and Steven Bennett with 868 career points which is 19
th in the all-time scoring list.
Kevin Hu added 11 points as the Silverswords (5-6) continued to roll heading into 2016 having won four straight and five of their last six.
Chris Johnstone came off the bench late with a career-best seven points
The V-Hawks, who fell to 5-10 on the season, were led by Erik Engelstad's 17 points.
The 42 points surrendered by the 'Swords is the fewest allowed during
Eric Bovaird's five-year tenure as head coach. Chaminade's defense pressured Viterbo into a meager 24.2 percent field goal percentage (16-of-66) and only 1-of-21 from 3-point range.
By contrast, the Silverswords hit 28 of their 58 field goals attempts for 48.3 percent and were 10-of-29 from long distance. They also out-rebounded the V-Hawks 45-37 and had 13 assists to their seven. Chaminade also blocked seven Viterbo shots, a season-high.
The 'Swords never trailed in the game although the V-Hawks managed to forced two ties early on. Viterbo would hang around until midway through the first half when Chaminade outscored them 15-6 over the next six minutes.
Sam Daly scored four of his six points during the stretch as the Silverswords grabbed a 30-16 lead and maintained a double-digit until the V-Hawks' Ethan Haberman's bucket brought the margin back to single digits at 33-24 at the half.
The second half started slow for both teams as Hu's layup was the only score after three minutes of action. After an Engelstad layup, the Silverswords bolted out on a 17-2 run over the next eight minutes with Kuany hitting for eight points.
Needing two points to reach 1,000 and the outcome well decided, Kuany achieved his milestone by throwing down an empathic dunk with 2:44 left to etch his name in the Chaminade history books.
The Silverswords will start the New Year on a three-game road swing as they resume Pacific West Conference action Tuesday at Dixie State.
