RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Meeting for the third time in 17 days, the Chaminade University men's basketball team's season came to end Thursday, falling to Azusa Pacific 79-69 in the quarterfinal of the Pacific West Conference Tournament at the California Baptist University Event Center.
Justin Bridges (Atlanta/Georgia Highlands College) had a team-high 12 points and six rebounds in his last collegiate game while All-PacWest First Team member
Austin Pope (Burbank, Calif./North Idaho College) added 10 points with four rebounds and four assists in his final game as a Silversword.
Dantley Walker (Panaca, Nev./UNLV) ended his college career making three 3-pointers for 11 points while
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College), who was named All-PacWest honorable mention, posted his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Grant Dressler (Las Vegas/Sacramento State), who also earned all-conference honorable mention honors, added nine points. Braden Koellliker (Kaysville, Utah/Colorado State) had seven points.
The Cougars got a game-high 20 points from Petar Kutlesic as they advanced to the conference semifinals Friday against host California Baptist. APU, seeded third, took the rubber game of the season series after each team won on its own home floor.
The sixth-seeded 'Swords who beat APU last Saturday to qualify for the tournament, quickly fell behind early, trailing 11-3, but Dressler hit a pair of triples while another from Koelliker was a part of a 15-7 run which tied it at 18. They eventually took their first lead at 22-21 on Koelliker's driving layup.
APU eventually went back ahead but Walker buried two triples combined with a
Brett Reed (Houston/Cabrillo College) layup cut the deficit to 34-31. The Cougars, however, ran off eight straight to finish the half.
Azusa Pacific established several 13-point leads early in the second. The 'Swords made several opportunities to close to within single-digits including 51-43 on a
Nicholas Anderson (Anaheim, Calif./Fullerton College) triple with 13:51 left.
Down 58-47, the 'Swords had a one-on-one fast-break but APU blocked the layup attempt, leading to a triple on the other end to put the Cougars up 61-47 with 6:30 left which seemed to take any momentum away.
Chaminade got to within 10 three times, the final with 2:09 left after Pope's 3-pointer. A layup from Bridges got them to within 73-65 with 1:30 remaining but it was close as they came. The 'Swords could never get the big run they were looking for in the second half.
The Silverswords shot 39.3 percent from the floor (24-of-61) and 33.3 from 3-point range (10-of-30). However, they struggled from the free throw line, making 11-of-19 for 57.9 percent. APU made just below 47 percent from the floor and made 10-of-28 3-pointers.
Chaminade committed nine turnovers to Azusa Pacific's 10 and were out-rebounded 39-37.
It was the first time in four PacWest Tournament appearances that the Silverswords, who finished the season 16-12, lost their opening round game. Azusa Pacific improved to 20-9.
