AZUSA, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's basketball team concluded their road trip Monday with an 86-65 loss to No. 24 Azusa Pacific at the Felix Events Center.
The undermanned Silverswords trailed by 17 at the half, cut the deficit to only four in the opening minutes of the second before running out of gas late in the game.
Frankie Eteuati, who was named the Pacific West Conference Co-Player of the Week earlier in the day, tallied his second career double-double in as many games with a 19-point, 15-rebound performance. He also set a new career-high in rebounds.
Kiran Shastri had 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers for the Silverswords (9-14 overall, 6-11 PacWest).
James Harper hit for 12 on 6-of-11 field goals while
Kuany Kuany had 11 points.
David Ware had seven boards and three assists on the night
Azusa Pacific (22-4 overall, 15-3 PacWest) was led by Bruce English's 17 points. The Cougars hit 15 3-pointers on the night, the second consecutive game the Silverswords have surrendered 15 treys.
The game started well for Chaminade as baskets from Harper,
Kevin Hu and Kuany helped give them a 6-3 lead three minutes in. Back-to-back Cougar 3-pointers helped give them the lead as the game's scoring went back-and-forth until a 10-0 surge by the home team gave them a 31-15 lead with 8:33 left in the first half. APU held a 49-32 advantage at halftime.
In the second half, the 'Swords made their charge. Eteuati and Harper combined to score all of the team's points during a 9-0 run to bring the Silverswords to within 49-41. Chaminade continued to build on its momentum as Shasti's 3-pointer and Harper's jumper brought the 'Swords to 54-50, their closest deficit since the 14:09 mark of the first half.
But the comeback hit a roadblock as APU's 14-0 surge during a critical four-minute span midway through helped build its lead to 18, putting the game away for the Cougars.
The 'Swords were held to 37.7 percent shooting from the floor and was only 4-for-19 from long distance while APU shot 45.7 from the field and tallied more assists, 20-10. However, Chaminade was able to out-rebound the Cougars, 44-39.
The loss, combined with Dominican's win over Academy of Art, eliminated the Silverswords from the PacWest Tournament chase. The Penguins currently hold the sixth and final spot for the tournament with a 9-8 conference record while seventh-place Hawai'i Pacific is 9-9. Dominican and HPU will face each other on Feb. 24 at the Blaisdell Center.
The Silverswords return home for their final home stand of the season Saturday when they face Holy Names at McCabe Gym. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. with live streaming audio coverage on GoSwords.com.
