HONOLULU – Dixie State University continues to be the proverbial thorn in the side of the Chaminade University men's basketball team.
The Silverswords dropped a tough 77-65 decision to the Trailblazers Thursday in front of 520 enthusiastic fans at McCabe Gym.
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College) paced the 'Swords with 20 points, hitting all of his five 3-point attempts on the night.
Austin Pope (Burbank, Calif./North Idaho College) added 11 points and seven rebounds. He also had nine assists for the fifth time this season.
Justin Bridges (Atlanta/Georgia Highlands) had 10 points.
The Silverswords fell to 13-7 overall and 8-5 in the Pacific West Conference, their third defeat in four games. Despite the loss, the 'Swords still own the fifth spot in next month's PacWest Tournament, leading Academy of Art by a half-game.
Brandon Simister once again played the role of villain with a team-high 19 points for the Trailblazers. In Dixie State's last appearance at McCabe Gym in January 2016, it was Simister who hit a desperation 3-pointer as time expired which forced overtime, a game that DSU eventually won.
The PacWest-leading Trailblazers won their ninth straight and improved to 15-6 overall and 12-2 in the conference, increasing their lead over second-place Azusa Pacific to a full game.
The game was tight for the first 12 minutes with neither squad being able to put together significant runs. The largest lead by either was three by Chaminade (28-25) after a
Dantley Walker (Panaca, Nev./UNLV) triple with 7:27 left in the half.
But DSU provided the game's key stretch, a 15-0 run during the next three minutes which built its lead to 40-28. CUH managed to minimize the damage by scoring the final seven points of the half to trail 40-35 at the break.
In the second half, Bridges made consecutive triples to bring the home team to 54-52 with 11 minutes remaining. However the 'Swords hit the wall. Over the next eight minutes, Dixie State outscored Chaminade, 18-5, to capture its 10
th-consecutive win in the series in what will likely be the final regular season matchup in the 10-year history between the two programs. DSU departs for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference next season.
Of Chaminade's 56 shot attempts, 35 were from beyond the arc, a season-high, making 13. The 'Swords were 41.1 percent from the field in the game while DSU was 48.3. They were slightly outrebounded, 37-34, but committed 15 turnovers to Dixie State's eight.
The 'Swords were again subpar at the free throw line, making just 6-of-16. In their last three losses, they are just 17-of-43 (39.5 percent) from the charity stripe. However, they managed to limit two-time All-PacWest guard Trevor Hill to just eight points, just the third time this season he's failed to crack double-digits in scoring.
The Silverswords will look to right the ship Saturday when they host Fresno Pacific at McCabe Gym. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. with live streaming audio at GoSwords.com.
