FRESNO, Calif. – For the better part of a year, Chaminade University head coach
Eric Bovaird has said in regards to the Pacific West Conference that there are no easy games anymore especially on the road.
Playing their first game outside of O'ahu this year, the 12th-ranked Silverswords found out first-hand just how difficult the road is by dropping a New Year's Eve 74-72 decision Monday against Fresno Pacific at the Special Events Center.
The Silverswords were handed their first loss of the year, dropping them to 10-1 overall and 4-1 in the PacWest with the regular-season series ending with a split. Chaminade outlasted Fresno Pacific in overtime earlier this month at McCabe Gymnasium. The 'Swords also failed to match the 1978-79 team for the program's best-ever start (11-0).
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College/Marysville HS) led all scorers with 25 points, hitting 10 of his 13 shots from the floor. The senior also pulled down seven rebounds.
Nicholas Anderson (Anaheim, Calif./Fullerton College/Canyon HS) added 13 points while
Tyler Cartaino (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) had 11 points along with six rebounds and a career-best five assists.
Grant Dressler (Las Vegas/Sacramento State/Palo Verde HS), the team's leading scorer at 17.8 entering the game, was saddled with foul trouble throughout and was held to a season-low seven points. However the senior did dish eight assists – tying his career-high set last season – and had five boards.
The Sunbirds improved to 5-6 overall and 2-4 in the conference with Aamondae Coleman putting up 23 points. Coleman had 21 in the first meeting between the two squads in Honolulu.
Chaminade led majority of the first half with the help of 51.7 percent shooting from the floor with four Silverswords providing five or more points to help pace them to a 37-34 halftime lead.
In the second half, FPU clawed back and grabbed its first lead since the game's opening possession on Elijah Hill's layup with 16:12 left. After two ties and five lead changes, Adrian Antunez broke a 54-all deadlock with a short jumper just inside the foul line to put the Sunbirds up for good, 56-54, with 8:23 left.
Meanwhile Chaminade went ice-cold from the floor, unable to get a basket during a five-minute span midway through the second half. During the spell, Fresno Pacific was able to build its largest lead of the game at seven (62-55) before Cartaino's three-point play finally got them back on the board at the five-minute mark.
The 'Swords were able to chop the deficit to two on four occasions including big 3-pointers from
Andre Arissol (Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood HS) and Scheive but FPU matched them with clutch perimeter jumpers down the stretch.
Chaminade's 13-of-34 shooting in the second half (38.2 percent) proved costly while FPU sizzled by missing just nine of its 26 second-half tries. The 'Swords still managed to out-rebound the Sunbirds, 32-27, and dish out more assists, 19-10. Chaminade also had one more giveaway (15-14).
The Silverswords will look to start the 2019 calendar year right on Wednesday when they travel to the Bay Area to face Academy of Art in San Francisco.
