HONOLULU – In one of the most raucous crowds to witness a game in McCabe Gym in years, the Chaminade University men's basketball team didn't quite have enough to stop their intercity rivals.
Hawai'i Pacific University, the eighth-ranked team in the nation, spoiled the Silverswords' Senior Night, 88-80, in front of 1,225 boisterous fans, the most to see a basketball game in McCabe in over eight years.
Kuany Kuany played his final home game by pouring in a season-high 28 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in defeat. The Melbourne, Australia, native moved past former Silversword great Tony Randolph into third in the school's all-time scoring list with 1,583 points.
Rohndell Goodwin, also playing in his final home game, had 22 points and six rebounds. In only two seasons, the senior from Oakland, California, has 957 career points.
Kiran Shastri contributed with 14 points while
Austin Pope had 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Shastri made one 3-pointer against the Sharks, giving him 87 on the season, just six away from tying the school record he set in 2013-14.
Chauncey Orr led HPU with 25 points. The Sharks not only improved to 26-2 and 18-2, but combined with California Baptist's loss to Point Loma earlier in the evening, also captured their first-ever outright Pacific West Conference regular season championship.
HPU jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead to open the game and led by as many as eight but the 'Swords responded as Pope's bucket drew them to within 21-20. Then on Chaminade's next possession, Kuany buried a triple to give them their first lead of the game. But it proved short-lived as Deven Riley's layup, followed by a Spencer Vering 3-pointer put HPU ahead for good at 26-23 at the 8:48 mark.
After leading 46-37 at halftime, HPU would build its lead to as many as 14 but the Silverswords slowly ate away at the lead. Goodwin sank a straight-away 3 with 3:40 left to reduce the deficit to just five (75-69) to send the home team's "White Out" crowd into a frenzy but the Sharks iced the game, making 7 of 8 foul shots down the stretch to hold off the Silverswords.
Chaminade was held to just 42.6 percent shooting from the floor and were out-rebounded, 43-39. HPU also went 22-for-26 from the free throw line while CUH was 13-of-17.
Aside from Kuany, Goodwin and Shastri, three other 'Swords were also honored on Senior Night.
Sam Daly, who had started every game since his arrival last year, did not play due to an injury. However, his place in the starting lineup was made by
Kahanu Pu`ulei-Auld, a fourth-year junior who has decided to forgo his final year of eligibility. It was the Moanalua High School graduate's first-ever career start. Also getting court time was reserve forward
Michael Sakazaki.
Next up is the PacWest Tournament next week in Irvine, California. The Silverswords, the No. 4 seed, will face fifth-seeded Azusa Pacific on Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. Pacific.
