HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team got off to a blistering start against Montana State Billings then hung on down the stretch in their final non-conference game of the year.
The Silverswords scored 30 of the game's first 32 points in their 100-88 win Monday at McCabe Gym, improving them to 7-4 on the season.
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College) and
Austin Pope (Burbank, Calif./North Idaho College) each went for 23 points. Pope also had seven assists and five rebounds.
Kobe Terashima and Hafeez Abdul had 19 points each for the Yellowjackets (8-5).
It was the first meeting between the two schools since February 2005 when Montana State Billings was in its final year as a member of the Pacific West Conference.
Dantley Walker (Panaca, Nev./UNLV) added 16 points, hitting 5-of-6 from the floor including 4-of-5 from 3-point country.
Justin Bridges (Atlanta/Georgia Highlands) had a brilliant all-around game with five points and a steal while tying a career-high in rebounds (7) and setting two more in assists (5) and blocks (3).
Braden Koelliker (Kaysville, Utah/Colorado State) added eight points and five boards while
Eliet Donley (Yokosuka, Japan/Hayfield) had a career-best six points.
Brett Reed (Houston/Cabrillo College) had six points and seven rebounds.
The Silverswords were high-octane from the start. They scored the game's first 16 points and the Yellowjackets didn't get a point until six minutes had elapsed. The 'Swords went on another big run, this time a 14-0 surge.
With 9:44 left in the half, Chaminade led 30-2 with eight Silverswords getting in the scoring column. They made 12 of their first 15 shots, four being from downtown while limiting the shell-shocked visitors to just 1-of-11 from the floor. At one point, CUH owned a 30-point lead.
But MSUB had plenty of feistiness left. A pair of 7-0 Yellowjacket runs help cut Chaminade's lead to 13 but Pope made three free throws to help stake the 'Swords to a 56-40 halftime cushion. The 'Swords shot a blistering 65.6 percent (21-of-32) in the first half, making 7-of-10 from 3-point range.
The Yellowjackets remained unfazed by the deficit as Terashima had eight points during a 14-2 MSUB run at the second half's midway point to close to within 80-70 with 9:39 left.
But that would be as close as they got with Chaminade responding on a 9-0 run, led by Scheive's five points to help put the game away.
The Silverswords came back down to earth in second-half percentage (45.9) but still shot 55.1 for the game. They out-rebounded the Yellowjackets, 40-31, and had 20 assists to MSUB's 14.
The Silverswords will take the rest of the Christmas break off and return to PacWest action on Wednesday, Jan. 3, against Holy Names at McCabe Gym. The game tips with a special start time of 4 p.m. with live streaming audio coverage on GoSwords.com.
