HONOLULU – In Saturday's Pacific West Conference meeting between the Chaminade University and University of Hawai'i Hilo men's basketball teams, the best defense was the offense.
Defense was nowhere to be found in the Silverswords' 114-101 win over the Vulcans with the teams combining to make 33 3-pointers while both shooting over 60 percent.
Both squads had six players break the double-digit scoring column in the contest.
Grant Dressler (Las Vegas/Sacramento State/Palo Verde) and
Andre Arissol (Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood HS) each had 21 points for Chaminade while
Nicholas Anderson (Anaheim, Calif./Fullerton College/Canyon HS) and
Masa Swain (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine Prep) added 19 points each, career-highs for both.
Jake Hutchings (Las Vegas/Howard College/Centennial HS) and
Tyler Cartaino (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) had 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The Silverswords improved to 5-0 on the season, their best start in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational Era which began in 1984-85. They are also 2-0 in the PacWest.
Larry Bush had a game-high 23 for UH Hilo (2-3, 0-2 PacWest).
The last time Chaminade surrendered triple digits in a regulation-game win was on Feb. 18, 2006 when it beat Grand Canyon, 114-107.
Home court advantage also remained true between the two squads. The 'Swords win on Saturday was the eighth consecutive victory by the home team in the series.
In addition to Anderson's career-high in points, he also set another with nine assists while Dressler dropped seven dimes. In all, Chaminade had 23 helpers, tying its season-high.
Anderson was also perfect from the field, hitting all six of his tries including a career-high 5-of-5 from long range. Arissol made four triples while Dressler and Swain each drained three.
Swain perhaps had one of the feel-good games of anyone on the floor. The redshirt junior who had 22 points in 28 career games entering Saturday nearly doubled his career scoring output with his performance, making seven of his 11 tries from the floor.
UH Hilo never led in the game but managed to rally from down as many as 13 in the first half to tie it twice including a triple from James Griffin that sent the game tied at 50 at halftime.
With the 'Swords holding on to a 56-54 lead early in the second half, Arissol buried a 3-ball then hit a breakaway layup on Chaminade's next possession. A Jordan Graves bucket proved to be a mere speed bump as Cartaino ripped down a board on UH Hilo's next possession then sliced through the Vulcans transition defense like a hot knife through butter for a coast-to-coast thunderous dunk that helped to ignite the 'Swords' afterburners. It was part of a 25-4 surge spanning nearly five minutes to put Chaminade up 81-58 with 12:31 left. The Silverswords made 9-of-10 field goals including all four 3-point tries during the stretch.
The 'Swords' lead grew to as many as 29 before UH Hilo made a late run at the end although the game was not as close as the difference indicated.
Chaminade made 64.2 percent of its shots including a whopping 17-of-23 from 3-point range while UH Hilo hit for 60.3, making 16 of 27 from downtown. With high field goal percentages, the teams combined for just 49 rebounds, 28 from Chaminade.
The Silverswords will take next week off for finals then return to McCabe Gym for their intercity rivalry with Hawai'i Pacific University on Tuesday, Dec. 11. Unlike their series against UH Hilo, HPU has won four straight at McCabe with their last win over the Sharks at home being in December 2013.
