FRESNO, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's basketball used a strong second half to defeat Fresno Pacific, 89-78, Thursday at the Special Event Center.
All five Silversword starters – six in all – broke the double-digit scoring column for the squad's seventh consecutive victory, matching their longest winning streak since January 2014, improving them to 12-4 overall and 7-2 in the Pacific West Conference. Chaminade outscored Fresno Pacific by nine in the final 20 minutes while hitting half its 32 shot attempts.
Justin Bridges (Atlanta/Georgia Highlands) led the 'Swords with a career-high 18 points, hitting 6 of 9 shots from the floor including three 3-pointers.
Brett Reed (Houston/Cabrillo College) ripped down 18 rebounds, the most by a Silversword since February 2014 (
Kuany Kuany's single-game record of 22), while he also had 11 points, three assists and a pair of blocks.
The victory also tied head coach
Eric Bovaird for second on the school's all-time win list with his predecessor,
Matt Mahar, who won 101 games from 2005-11.
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College) had 14 points as did
Dantley Walker (Panaca, Nev./UNLV) who drilled four triples.
Austin Pope (Burbank, Calif./North Idaho College) had another solid all-around outing with 11 points, five rebounds, a season-high-tying nine assists, three blocks and two steals.
Grant Dressler (Las Vegas/Sacramento State) came off the bench with 12 points, six boards and four assists.
The Sunbirds (5-15, 3-9 PacWest) were led by Elijah Hill's 15 points.
FPU owned a 22-13 edge towards the midway point of the first half but Walker's teardrop in the lane began a 15-0 surge to give Chaminade a 28-22 lead with 7:55 left in the half. Walker hit two of his triples while Dressler had five points during the run. Then Sam Burt's layup at the buzzer cut the 'Swords' lead to just 43-41 going into the locker room.
A 10-1 run early in the second half helped to give Chaminade its first double-digit lead of the game. Eventually the lead swelled to 16 (80-64) with 6:42 left which proved too much for the Sunbirds to overcome.
Chaminade shot 47.9 percent from the floor, making 10-of-30 triples. They also had 44 rebounds and 21 assists.
Fresno Pacific shot 46.4 from the floor with 6 of 24 shooting from distance. FPU pulled down 37 boards and had 15 assists.
The Silverswords will conclude the road trip Saturday at Holy Names.
