SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's basketball team dropped its first game of its Bay Area road swing with a 102-79 decision to Dominican University of California Thursday at the Conlon Center.
Rohndell Goodwin poured in 27 points for the Silverswords – one shy of his season high – hitting 11 of his 17 field goal attempts in a losing effort.
Kuany Kuany was 6 of 9 from the floor for 16 points, also pulling down seven rebounds as Chaminade fell to 9-12 overall and 7-7 in the Pacific West Conference.
Meanwhile, Dominican (12-9, 8-6 PacWest) shot lights out, hitting 68 percent of its shots, making 41 of 60 attempts. Josh Ramirez led the Penguins with 25 points as he missed only once in the game, hitting nine of 10 from the field.
Dominican's win put it in the driver's seat for the sixth and final spot in next month's PacWest Tournament which will be played at Concordia. Chaminade, which was tied with DUC at the No. 6 spot entering Thursday's contest, slipped a game back of the Penguins with six games remaining in the regular season.
The Penguins opened up a 14-4 lead in the game's opening five minutes, hitting six of their first eight shots from the floor. Three-pointers from
David Ware and Goodwin helped shave the deficit to 31-24 with 7:27 left. But the 'Swords went ice-cold in the building that's also known as "The Igloo," going four minutes without a score while Dominican went on a 19-0 surge. Chaminade missed all four of its shots during the stretch and committed four turnovers while the Penguins hit all eight of their shots as they got the lead to 50-24. DUC owned a 58-36 halftime lead, making 24 of their 31 field goal tries for a staggering 77.4 percentage. At one point late in the first half, Dominican was shooting 82 percent from the floor.
Down by 23 midway through the second half, the Silverswords made the home fans sweat. Employing a full-court press,
James Harper, Ware and
Sam Daly stole three straight inbounds passes leading to buckets from Goodwin and Kuany as their 12-0 run brought them within 11.
Dominican ended the run with a Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten 3-pointer but a two-handed flush from Daly and Harper's triple twice brought the 'Swords to within 12. However the Penguins scored seven straight and eventually rebuilt their lead back to 20 late in the contest.
Chaminade could not keep up with Dominican's red-hot shooting, hitting 48.3 percent of their field goals. The Penguins' 19 missed field goals and two missed free throws resulted in the 'Swords posting their lowest rebounding total of the year with 24 boards. Dominican also dished out 27 assists while committing only eight giveaways.
For only the third time in 76 career games,
Kiran Shastri failed to make a 3-pointer. He scored six points on the night, leaving him 20 shy of the 1,000-point barrier.
The Silverswords wrap up their Bay Area trip Saturday at Notre Dame de Namur.
