HONOLULU – Two weeks into their status as a nationally-ranked team, the No. 20 Chaminade University men's basketball squad knows there's a target on their backs.
After a solid win over in-city rival Hawai'i Pacific University on Tuesday afternoon, the Silverswords on Saturday got another challenge. This time it came from Holy Names University.
The 'Swords who have historically dominated the series got all they could handle from the up-and-coming Hawks in their 87-78 win at McCabe Gymnasium which was also
Eric Bovaird's 200th game as head coach.
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College/Marysville HS) and
Tyler Cartaino (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) each scored career-highs with 26 and 20 points, respectively. Both also had nine rebounds with the former tying his career high and the latter setting it.
Meanwhile
Grant Dressler (Las Vegas/Sacramento State/Palo Verde HS) notched his fourth 20-point outing in his last five games with his first double-double of the season (21 points, 10 rebounds). Dressler and
Nicholas Anderson (Anaheim, Calif./Fullerton College/Canyon HS) each had five assists with Anderson also getting three steals.
Andre Arissol (Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood) added nine points.
Chaminade improved to 7-0 on the year, the program's best start since the 1978-79 season when they won their first 11 contests. The 'Swords are also 4-0 in the Pacific West Conference and are
one of the 10 remaining unbeatens across Division II after Saturday's competition (No. 5 Valdosta State lost earlier in the day).
Kyvonte Davis led the Hawks (3-7, 2-3 PacWest) with 18 points.
Chaminade owned the first half's largest lead of five with 5:23 left in the first half courtesy of Scheive's 3-pointer but HNU battled back and took a one-point halftime lead (38-37).
The Hawks were determined to pull off the upset and had all the momentum their way after Bobby Kazar's three-point play put Holy Names up 52-47 with less than five minutes gone in the second half. But the 'Swords grabbed the momentum right back, going on a 9-0 run with the help of buckets from Anderson, Dressler and Cartaino to take back the lead at 54-52.
Holy Names forced two ties – the last coming at 56-all at 11:38 – but the Silverswords dug deep. Dressler buried a jumper and a 3-pointer to start a key 16-5 surge over the next five minutes capped by Cartaino's field goal which gave Chaminade its first double-digit lead of the game (72-61) with 6:29 remaining.
The Hawks would close to within six but the 'Swords scored six straight including Anderson's half-court heave to a wide-open Dressler who finished with a flush to build the lead back to 12. Holy Names would get no closer than seven the rest of the game.
Chaminade made 28 of 53 shots from the floor for 52.8 percent while Holy Names was 29 of 60 for 48.3 percent. The 'Swords owned the glass (41-29) and dished out 12 assists to HNU's seven. The 'Swords also went to the line 38 times, making 25, while the Hawks were just 9 of 18 from the charity stripe. Scheive made all six of his tries from the free throw line.
The Silverswords continue their four-games-in-four-days marathon by opening the three-day Hoops in Hawai'i D2 Power Invitational at the Hawai'i Convention Center on Sunday against Western Washington. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:45 p.m.
Chaminade is one of three nationally-ranked teams (No. 7 UC San Diego, No. 11 Southern Nazarene) competing in the tournament while WWU and Dallas Baptist were both previously ranked with Western Oregon receiving votes. Emmanuel and HPU round out the eight-team field. The 'Swords will face either Southern Nazarene or DBU on Monday.
