LAHAINA, Maui, Hawai'i – The Maui Jim Maui Invitational was created after the Chaminade University men's basketball team pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in college basketball history in December 1982 when they knocked off No. 1 Virginia.
Now, on the 35
th anniversary of that historic win, the Silverswords did it again, this time taking down California of the Pac-12 Conference with a resounding 96-72 victory in the seventh-place game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational Wednesday at the Lahaina Civic Center. The 24-point margin of victory is the largest against a Division I team in school history.
Dantley Walker (Panaca, Nev./UNLV) was on fire, scorching the nets by hitting 8-for-11 from the floor, including a career-high seven 3-pointers, for a career-best 23 points in giving Chaminade (3-2) its eighth win in Maui Jim Maui Invitational history.
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College) came off the bench for 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field.
All eight 'Swords who played 10 or more minutes got into the scoring ledger.
Brett Reed (Houston/Cabrillo College) had 12 points and six rebounds while
Austin Pope (Burbank, Calif./North Idaho College) overcame a slow shooting start to add 12 points along with nine assists and seven rebounds. Pope also committed just one turnover.
Grant Dressler (Las Vegas/Sacramento State) and
Justin Bridges (Atlanta/Georgia Highlands) had 10 points each while
Braden Koelliker (Kaysville, Utah/Colorado State) had eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Justice Sueing, who attended high school at Maryknoll School in Honolulu, had 23 points for Cal (2-4).
"I've been coming here for three years and this is the most special moment I've had, so it's pretty awesome," Walker said.
Chaminade shot 55.6 (35-of-63) from the floor including 20-of-30 in the second half. They also made 14 of their 25 3-pointers.
In contrast, the Bears were just 28-of-66 (42.4 percent).
"We were not pleased at all with the past two days of defense," said Silverswords head coach
Eric Bovaird who picked up his second career Maui win and the 90
th overall victory. "After getting your butt kicked for two days (32.5 point average margin of defeat vs. Notre Dame and Michigan), obviously everybody's questioning everything. So for these guys to buy in and execute the game plan while we were sitting with no breakfast at 7 o'clock in the morning (for a 9:30 a.m. tipoff), it's a pretty special group of guys."
Walker hit his first two attempts from downtown followed by Dressler's 3 to give the 'Swords a 9-2 lead in the game's opening two minutes. Cal battled back but Walker hit another triple to put Chaminade up 17-11. Koelliker buried trey as CUH hit five of their first seven tries from 3-point range, helping to build the lead to as many as nine.
But Chaminade's hot shooting cooled as Cal closed to within 29-28 at the six-minute mark but buckets from Reed, triples from Bridges and Walker followed by Pope's driving layup at the buzzer gave the Silverswords a 40-30 halftime lead.
Cal's defense stepped up to start final 20 minutes, scoring the half's first four points. Fouls also began to mount for Chaminade which picked up five in the first three minutes and Cal closed to within 42-39.
However, it was the closest they got. Dressler buried a 3 to jump-start a back-breaking 13-0 surge, capped by Scheive's trey with 15:06 left.
Again, Cal made a push, reducing the deficit to 10 (57-47) but Bridges knocked down another triple, a Koelliker layup, followed by five straight points from Scheive pushed the 'Swords' lead back to 16. On the ensuing possession, Walker grabbed a Golden Bear air-ball then fired a strike to Bridges down-court for a flush to put Chaminade up 69-51 with 8:12 left, sending the Silverswords' bench and fans into frenzy.
Chaminade's lead swelled to as many as 30 as the clock wound down.
"I'm the type of person that never thinks the game is over even if you're up big in the last couple of minutes," Walker said. "I always think something can happen."
"Going into that second half, I knew they were going to buckle (down) but we had to come out and play solid," Pope said. "Our guys stuck together through their runs. Like Dantley said, about two minutes to go, I had a lay-in, and I just knew it. The coaching staff, everybody was just down and I felt like we could get it done."
The 'Swords out-rebounded the Bears, 42-36, and dished out a whopping 22 assists while Cal had just six assists.
The Silverswords make their home debut Sunday when they return to Division II action against Cal State Dominguez Hills at McCabe Gym. Tipoff is slated for 2:30 p.m.
