LAHAINA, Maui, Hawai'i – The Chaminade University men's basketball team opened the 2017 Maui Jim Maui Invitational Monday with a 83-56 loss to No. 13 Notre Dame at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College) led the Silverswords with 17 points while
Austin Pope (Burbank, Calif./North Idaho College added 11.
Notre Dame's Matt Farrell hit for a game-high 27 points while Bonzie Colson, a national player of the year candidate, added 23. The duo was a combined 17-for-29 from the floor.
The 'Swords suffered their first loss of the season (2-1) while the Irish improved to 4-0.
Braden Koelliker (Kaysville, Utah/Colorado State) contributed with seven points for Chaminade with Pope grabbing seven rebounds.
Brett Reed (Houston/Cabrillo College), who made his 'Swords' debut after missing the Alaska series with an injury, also pulled down seven boards. Pope had a team-best four assists.
Reed also had five points while
Dantley Walker (Panca, Nev./UNLV) had six on two early 3-pointers.
Walker his deep triples from deep to keep the 'Swords in the game early on. But Chaminade went cold, going without a score during a seven-minute stretch midway through the first half.
But despite their offensive struggles, the Silverswords managed to keep pace with the Irish. Then with the first-half clock winding down, Reed buried an off-balanced 29-footer from the left wing to beat the clock, putting the 'Swords down 38-29 at the break.
Pope buried a trey on the half's first possession to cut the deficit to 38-32 but the Irish scored 12 of the game's next 18 points to help them pull away. Notre Dame shot 63.6 percent (7-for-11) in the first nine minutes of the second half while Chaminade was just 5-for-14 (35.7).
CUH came into the contest ranked 17
th in the nation in defensive field goal percentage at 36.4 percent. However with size and athleticism, the Division I Irish shot identical 52.8 percent from the floor (14-for-26) in both halves. They also shot 45 percent from the 3-point arc (9-for-20). The 'Swords had allowed opponents to shoot just 19.6 percent from 3-point range which ranked fifth nationally in Division II.
Meanwhile, Chaminade was just 35.3 (24-of-68) from the floor and made only 7-of-29 from long range for 24.1 percentage.
However, the 'Swords' taller lineup was only out-rebounded, 38-37.
The Silverswords will face Michigan in Tuesday's consolation game at 3 p.m. on ESPN2.
