HONOLULU – Seven weeks ago, the Chaminade University men's basketball team suffered a disappointing 88-87 loss at Azusa Pacific on a Connor Peterson free throw with less than two seconds left to play.
In Thursday's rematch at McCabe Gym, the Cougars did it again. This time, the hero was Joey Schreiber, who buried a 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining in overtime, to give Azusa Pacific a 100-99 win in an important Pacific West Conference contest for both teams.
Chaminade, which controlled its own postseason destiny entering the evening, fell to 11-15 overall and 9-10 in the PacWest. APU improved to 20-7 and 14-5 in the conference, forcing a three-way tie for the PacWest's top seed in next week's conference tournament, along with California Baptist and Dixie State, with just one game left to play for all three.
Meanwhile Chaminade, Dominican, Fresno Pacific and Hawai'i-Hilo each have identical conference records and are battling for the PacWest's sixth and final spot in the tournament.
And despite the loss, the Silverswords still remain in contention. A win over Point Loma Saturday and losses by UH-Hilo (to APU) and Dominican (to Fresno Pacific) will give the 'Swords the tournament berth, due to their win over FPU last month. But wins by the Vulcans and/or the Penguins will end their season.
Kuany Kuany led the Silverswords with 25 points and eight rebounds before fouling out in overtime.
Kiran Shastri added 21 points, hitting three 3-pointers, with four rebounds and three assists.
Rohndell Goodwin had 15 points, followed by
Oscar Pedroso's 13 and
David Ware who had 12, tying his career-high with three triples.
Six Cougars were in double-digits led by Schreiber and Peterson, who had 17 points each. Petar Kutlesic had 15 points and 13 rebounds.
APU managed to build a 23-12 lead midway through the first half before the 'Swords rallied as Shastri and Pedroso accounted for all the points in an 18-4 run that gave them the lead. Chaminade owned several six-point leads before APU made a run to grab a 48-46 halftime lead.
After a nip-and-tuck first 19 minutes of the second half that saw six ties and seven lead changes, APU had an 87-81 lead with less than a minute to play. After two Kuany free throws, Chaminade forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass and Pedroso buried a triple from the deep left corner to cut the deficit to 87-86 with 49 seconds left.
The Cougars then missed a shot on the other end, giving the 'Swords a chance to take the lead. But they were unable to convert as Kutlesic grabbed the rebound and was fouled. But Kutlesic was assessed a technical foul for slamming the ball to the floor with just over a second left in regulation. Shastri hit both the technical free throws giving Chaminade the 88-87 lead. Kutlesic tied it with his foul shot on the other end but couldn't hit the winner as Goodwin grabbed the board. His three-quarter court heave hit the front iron as the contest went into overtime.
Sam Daly's steal and layup forced the 15
th tie of the game at 96-all with 2:21 left in the extra period, then Goodwin hit two free throws to give Chaminade a 98-96 lead. Both teams then had make-one, miss-one trips to the foul line. The Chaminade miss proved costly as it kept its lead to only two with 15 seconds left. APU grabbed the board and raced down the floor with Schreiber pulling up from the right-wing, hitting the go-ahead triple. After a timeout, the 'Swords had a chance for the win but they failed to get off a shot at the buzzer, giving them their sixth final-possession defeat this season.
After hitting over 52 percent of their first half shots, Chaminade was held to 36 percent in the second half, 45.6 percent in the game. APU managed to hit just under 53 percent of its shots. The Cougars also held the rebounding edge, 46-37, and hit 14 triples to Chaminade's 10. The 'Swords committed a season-low seven turnovers on the night.
The Silverswords will celebrate Senior Night against Point Loma Saturday at McCabe Gym. Seniors
James Harper,
Kevin Hu, Pedroso and Ware will be honored after the game. Live streaming audio of the regular season finale will be on GoSwords.com.
