HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team erased a nine-point halftime deficit to down Point Loma, 94-78, Saturday at McCabe Gym.
Kuany Kuany scored a season-high 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds in the win as the Silverswords improved to 17-9 overall and 13-6 in the Pacific West Conference. The victory also locked them in as the No. 4 seed in the PacWest Basketball Championships that will be held in Irvine, California, in two weeks.
Rohndell Goodwin added 18 points and seven rebounds for Chaminade while
Kiran Shastri had 16 and
Sam Daly 14.
Austin Pope had another solid all-around game for the 'Swords with nine points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks as they swept the season series.
Sterling Somers had 22 points for the Sea Lions who fell to 13-12 and 9-9 in the PacWest.
After a back-and-forth start to the game, PLNU grabbed the lead midway through the first half and held on to it, building its lead to 50-41 at the half.
The Sea Lions maintained the advantage at six at 54-48 until
Dantley Walker's 3-pointer triggered the 'Swords' rally. Shastri drilled a triple on their next possession to tie it at 54 then took the lead some 90 seconds later on Goodwin's tip-in. Daly then scored four straight followed by another Shastri 3-ball which completed a 15-0 run which put Chaminade ahead, 63-54, at the 12-minute mark.
PLNU fought back as Josh Rodriguez's layup with 7:47 left cut the 'Swords' lead down to a single point but the home team went into lockdown mode defensively, holding PLNU without a basket for the next four minutes. By the time Point Loma got its next bucket, Chaminade was up by 15 then proceeded to make seven of its last eight shots from the foul line to get the win.
After allowing PLNU to score 50 first-half points, CUH allowed only 28 in the second, holding them to just 32.3 percent (10-of-31) in the final 20 minutes. Chaminade also shot nearly 53 percent from the floor in the second half and made 15 of 18 free throws. The 'Swords also committed only seven turnovers, tying their season low.
The Silverswords will wrap up the regular season next Saturday against in-city rival Hawai'i Pacific University at McCabe Gym with a 7:30 p.m. tip. The Sharks are ranked eighth in the nation and have won three straight meetings. It will also be Senior Night and the final home games for Daly, Goodwin, Kuany, Shastri,
Kahanu Pu`ulei-Auld and
Michael Sakazaki.
