LAIE, O'ahu, Hawai'i – Playing for the final time in the historic Cannon Activities Center, the Chaminade University men's basketball team erased an early double-digit deficit to score an 88-75 win over BYU-Hawai'i on Monday.
After sinking a buzzer-beating triple against Seattle Pacific last Wednesday, Silverswords guard
Kiran Shastri continued to wreak havoc behind the arc.
The senior from Orinda, California, tied a school-record with 10 3-pointers for a season-high 36 points in the win. Shastri shares the honor with Christophe Varidel (against Baylor in November 2013) and Joel Smith (against Alaska in December 2008) and his point total was one shy of his career-high set in his freshman season.
Chaminade won its third straight in improving to 7-5 overall and 4-2 in the Pacific West Conference while also picking up a pair of points in the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge.
The Seasiders fell to 3-9 and 1-5 with Caeleb Roney scoring a team-best 20 points.
The Silverswords also won in Laie for the fourth in time in their last five games.
Rohndell Goodwin added 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists while
Sam Daly had 12 points and seven helpers.
Tyler Cartaino tallied a career-best 12 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor while
Austin Pope had a game-high 13 rebounds along with seven assists and three steals.
BYUH opened the game with a flurry, jumping out to a 29-14 lead in the game's first 11 minutes. But Shastri ignited the 'Swords, hitting four 3-pointers in a five-minute span, his last of the first half gave Chaminade a 34-32 advantage with two minutes left, part of a 20-4 run. Daly hit a pair of layups to help stake the 'Swords to a 38-37 halftime lead.
BYUH again started out hot, going on a 14-4 spurt to begin the second half which put them up 51-42 five minutes in. But later Shastri, Pope and Goodwin would hit consecutive triples to put Chaminade ahead, 60-59. After BYUH hit two foul shots to put them ahead 61-60, the 'Swords had another flurry as Goodwin's jumper ignited a 10-0 run to put them ahead for good. The lead continued to grow and Shastri later tied the triples record with 1:39 left. He put the exclamation point on the game with a dunk 17 seconds later.
Chaminade's 13 triples are the most it made in nearly a month. Of their 33 made baskets, a whopping 26 came off assists, which is a season-high. They also committed a season-tying-low seven turnovers. The 'Swords also forced 16 BYUH giveaways.
The Silverswords will take the Christmas break off and return to action on New Year's Eve against Northwest Indian College at McCabe Gym. Tipoff time is set for 1:30 p.m. with live streaming audio on GoSwords.com.
