HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team ended the calendar year on a high note.
Playing the State of Hawai'i's final collegiate basketball game of 2016, the Silverswords put on a dazzling scoring array in a 132-67 romp over Northwest Indian College Saturday at McCabe Gym.
Six 'Swords scored in double-digits. While their usual cast had their share of points, (
Kiran Shastri, game-high 23 and
Rohndell Goodwin, 20), four players notched career highs with
Justin Bridges scoring 18 points,
Matt Southard and
Kaleb Gilmore 10 each and
Michael Sakazaki with eight. Chaminade had 68 bench points which was more than NWIC's entire team.
Kuany Kuany, who sat out the last three games with an injury, returned to the lineup with 13 points for Chaminade which ran its winning streak to four in improving to 8-5.
Meanwhile, Shastri continued to pick up where he left off from long range. He buried seven 3-pointers on the afternoon, which followed his record-tying 10 in his last game at BYU-Hawai'i on Dec. 19. The Silverswords also hit a school-record 20 triples.
The Eagles (0-24), out of Bellingham, Washington, were led by Mike Schjang, Jr.'s 21 points.
Chaminade's 132 points is the second-most in school history, just two behind the record set at BYU-Hawai'i (134-83) during the 1977-78 season. The 65-point margin of victory is also the second-largest, only behind a 67-point win against Fontebonne University (107-40) on Sept. 29, 2002.
Chaminade didn't waste any time, scoring on its first four possessions with layups from
Sam Daly, Goodwin and a pair of 3s from Shastri for a 10-2 lead. A 15-2 run – led by five points each by Shastri and
Dantley Walker – upped the lead to 25-9. The 'Swords then dropped the hammer, this time going on a 25-0 surge in a five-minute span to put the game away with 5:21 left which put them up 56-12. The run went so well that even Goodwin's alley-oop lob intended for Daly found its way into the basket.
The 'Swords led 72-25 at halftime, their most first-half points this season.
Kahanu Pu`ulei-Auld, Southard, Bridges, Gilmore and Sakazaki each saw extensive minutes in the second half as they helped to extend the lead and outscore NWIC 60-42 in the final 20 minutes. All 13 of Chaminade's available players saw double-digit minutes of duty.
Nate Pollard ripped down a career-high eight rebounds with Goodwin also pulled down eight while Bridges also set a career-best with seven boards. Daly led the home team with eight assists with
Austin Pope dropping with five dimes.
The 'Swords shot just over 57 percent in the contest while keeping the Eagles to just under 41 percent. They also pulled down 56 rebounds, tied for the second-most in program history, and out-boarded NWIC by 28. They also dished out 26 assists for the second consecutive game and forced 21 Eagle turnovers.
The Silverswords will start an important two-game Pacific West Conference home set Tuesday against Concordia University Irvine (7-5, 3-1 PacWest) followed by a Thursday tilt against No. 8 California Baptist (11-1, 3-1). Both tip times are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with live streaming audio on GoSwords.com.
