HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team finished their brief two-game home stand Monday with 92-79 win over Holy Names at McCabe Gym.
Rohndell Goodwin, who entered the game ranked fifth nationally in total field goals made, poured in a game-high 29 points, making 10 of 16 shots from the floor which gave him 167 on the season. He also rained in a season-high five 3-pointers.
Austin Pope and
Kuany Kuany each tallied a double-double with Pope scoring a season-best 26 points while pulling down 14 rebounds for his fifth consecutive double-double for the Silverswords, who improved to 13-7 overall and 9-4 in the Pacific West Conference. The junior from Burbank, California, made 12 of 17 shots on the night. Kuany went for 11 points and 10 boards for his fourth double-double of the season.
Sam Daly contributed to the win with 12 points and five assists. Goodwin, Pope, Kuany and Daly were a combined 33-for-48 (68.8 percent) from the floor for Chaminade which shot 55.7 percent from the floor. Meanwhile Pope's double-double streak matched the team's longest since Mamadou Diarra's five in a row from January to February 2011. The longest recorded double-double streak is six by Marko Kolaric from November to December 2007.
Jewels Sanders led the Hawks (3-16, 2-10 PacWest) with 26 points.
The 'Swords, who never trailed, scored just seconds into the game on Kuany's layup while Pope hit one a minute later. After the teams traded several scores, the 'Swords put a run together. Leading 14-13 six minutes into the contest, Chaminade went on a 14-3 run to go up 28-16 with Goodwin scoring eight straight points during the stretch. HNU would cut the deficit to six late in the half but layups from Kuany, Pope and a flush from
Kiran Shastri would put the 'Swords back up by double-digits.
Chaminade held a 46-39 lead at halftime with Goodwin getting 24 points in the first 20 minutes while Pope had 12 points and nine boards at the break.
Holy Names managed to keep within striking distance in the second half but a 15-3 run by the 'Swords was capped by Pope's alley-oop throw down from
Kahanu Pu`ulei-Auld, putting them up 81-60 with 6:27 left. The Hawks went on a 9-0 run late in the game but the outcome was already decided.
The 'Swords outrebounded Holy Names, 44-33 and held them to less than 45 percent shooting from the floor. They also outscored them 60-32 inside the paint.
Shastri's eight points moved him past former 'Swords legend Tim Dunham into eighth in the all-time scoring list with 1,408 points. He needs 17 to pass his former teammate Lee Bailey – who is an assistant coach with Holy Names – into seventh place.
The Silverswords head back to the road in a crucial four-game road trek to the PacWest's southwest region that will likely determine their post-season fate in March. They open the road swing Saturday at Concordia University Irvine.
