HONOLULU – Heading into Wednesday evening, NCAA Division II men's basketball programs had pulled off three upsets over Division I foes in exhibitions including one earlier in the day when Notre Dame (Ohio) upset Cleveland State.
The Chaminade University men's basketball team was hoping to make it four as they faced their D-I neighbors a mile down the road.
And for 35 minutes, they had the University of Hawai'i on the ropes and ripe for the upset. But a four-minute stretch late in the game proved too much as the Silverswords, making their 2019-20 debut, fell to the Rainbow Warriors, 83-66, at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Tyler Cartaino (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park), who earlier in the day was named to the Preseason All-Pacific West Conference Team, put on a show for the mostly-pro-UH crowd of 4,467 with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the floor, most on a dazzling array of layups, drives and hammer dunks. He also pulled down six rebounds.
Newcomer
Kendall Small (Lakewood, Calif./Pacific/Mayfair HS) added 12 points while
Andre Arissol (Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood HS) had nine.
Kevin Kremer (Chico, Calif./Utah/Pleasant Valley, Utah) contributed with seven points off the bench with a team-high eight boards.
Telly Davenport (Idaho Falls, Idaho/College of Southern Idaho/Bonneville HS) dished out a team-best five assists.
Hawai'i was led by 6-foot-9 forward Zigmars Raimo who had 19 points.
The 'Swords made their presence known almost immediately. After UH scored the game's first bucket, Arissol knocked down a triple on the next possession to give Chaminade the 3-2 lead.
From there, the two teams traded scores and the lead over the next three minutes. After a driving layup by Small which put the 'Swords up 9-8, the 'Bows went on a 13-5 run over the next four minutes, giving them a 21-14 lead with 11:55 left, UH's largest of the half.
The Silverswords responded with six straight on a Small layup, a free throw from
Eliet Donley (Yokokuka, Japan/Hayfield) and another Arissol 3-ball to cut it to 21-20.
Cartaino helped keep the royal blue and white in it with eight points in the final nine minutes, six consecutively which put them back ahead 28-26 with 5:50 left. Many of his scores were an assortment of drives into the lane including two dunks, one on a breakaway and another a left-handed mash as he was challenged at the rim to help cut the deficit to 37-35 at the half.
UH would expand the lead coming out of halftime, leading by as many as nine (52-43) at the 15:07 mark. Cartaino got a massive break when his 3-point attempt from the deep left wing bounced off the rim, off glass and into the net. His fortuitous triple trigged an 8-0 run, ending with Small's driving layup to make it 52-51 with under 14 minutes remaining, sending the 50 or so Chaminade faithful behind the 'Swords' bench erupting in a frenzy.
But the 'Swords went cold, going went four minutes without a field goal as Hawai'i out-scored them 12-2 during the span. A free throw from Arissol chopped the deficit to 66-60 with five minutes left but the Rainbow Warriors scored 10 of the game's next 11 points to put the contest out of reach.
Chaminade shot 44.1 percent from the floor and held UH to a 43.8 percent clip. The 'Swords also held the 'Bows to just 6-of-30 from beyond the expanded Division I 3-point arc while making 6-of-20 themselves.
The 'Swords' pressure defense also forced 14 Rainbow Warrior giveaways.
However the differences were 19 UH assists to 13 for CUH while Hawai'i also gobbled up 53 rebounds to Chaminade's 31.
The Silverswords will open the season on Saturday, Nov. 9, against the University of Alaska at the PacWest/GNAC Shootout.
