SAN DIEGO – The Chaminade University men's basketball team opens the 2019 NCAA Division II West Regional against Seattle Pacific on Friday at Golden Gymnasium at the Point Loma campus.
The Silverswords (23-7) are the No. 7 seed and making their sixth overall appearance in the regional but their first since 2014.
The Falcons (21-6) earned the region's second seed after winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament and are back in the dance after missing it the past two seasons.
The winner will face the victor of the Concordia Irvine-Saint Martin's game in the regional semifinals Saturday at 5 p.m. Pacific (2 p.m. Hawaiian). The semifinal winners will then square off on Monday at 7:30 p.m. PDT (4:30 p.m. HST) for the regional championship and a trip for the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind. from March 27 to 30.
NCAA West Regional (San Diego; Golden Gymnasium), March 15-16, 18
Friday, March 15; First Round (all times Hawai'i Standard):
9 a.m.: Concordia Irvine (6) vs. Saint Martin's (3)
11:30 a.m.:
CHAMINADE (7) vs. Seattle Pacific (2)
2 p.m.: Cal Poly Pomona (5) vs. UC San Diego (4)
4:30 p.m.: Western Oregon (8) vs. Point Loma (1)
Saturday, March 16; Semifinal:
2 p.m.: 6/3 winner vs. 7/2 winner
4:30 p.m.: 5/4 winner vs. 8/1 winner
Monday, March 18; Finals:
4:30 p.m.: Semifinal winners
Chaminade vs. Seattle Pacific
Series Record:
Seattle Pacific leads 14-6
Last meeting:
December 14, 2016 (CUH 87, SPU 86)
Streaming video and live stats:
Video (free) |
Live stats
Ticket information:
Tickets can be purchased online or at the Golden Gym door starting one hour before the first game.
Single day passes: $10 (general admission), $5 seniors/military, $4 students, children ages 2 and younger are free.
About the Silverswords:
Chaminade's 23 wins are a record in the program's NCAA Division II era which began in 1986-87. It's also the most since the 1984-85 squad, then a member of the NAIA, went 24-12 under Silversword Hall of Fame coach Merv Lopes. The 'Swords are paced by their 'Big 3' of
Grant Dressler,
Tyler Cartaino and
Erik Scheive who average 19.3, 17.7 and 16.5 points per game, respectively, all which rank in the PacWest's top six. Cartaino is also leading the conference in field goal percentage at 59.2 while Dressler leads the PacWest in 3-pointers made per game at 3.0.
Nicholas Anderson, the team's starting point guard, tallies 4.2 assists per game while the Silverswords' fifth starter,
Andre Arissol, has been efficient beyond the arc as of late. Arissol has 21 triples at a 45.7 percent clip in his last seven games including a game-winning 3-pointer with less than a second remaining in the regular season finale at Hawai'i Hilo.
Head Coach Eric Bovaird:
Currently in his eighth season at Chaminade, Bovaird sports a 126-95 record with the Silverswords, the second-winningest coach in program history. His overall record can be somewhat deceiving since the Silverswords face three Power Five Division I programs each November in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, making his record against Division II squads 125-75. Bovaird has taken his teams to three NCAA West Regional berths (2013, '14, '19), tying him with Matt Mahar for the most regional appearances by a Chaminade coach.
Back to the Dance:
The 'Swords are back in the West Regional for the first time since 2014, the second of their back-to-back appearances. In both years they were the No. 8 seed. The Silverswords have lost four straight in the regionals with their last win coming in 2008 when they defeated Humboldt State in the first round.
A Look at the Falcons:
Seattle Pacific is back in the regional after a two-year hiatus. Prior to that, the Falcons had qualified for the tournament in 12 consecutive seasons which at the time was an NCAA's longest active streak. SPU, which broke into the final NABC Top 25 Poll on Tuesday at No. 23, enters the regional as the hottest team in the West, having won 12 straight including a win over region No. 8-seed Western Oregon in the GNAC Tournament championship game. Gavin Long leads the Falcons in the scoring ledger at 14.0 points but forward Coleman Wooten (12.8 ppg) has been the catalyst during SPU's winning streak, averaging 15.4 points and a 62.5 percent field goal percentage during the stretch. Wooten was named the GNAC Tournament MVP with his 25-point, 11-rebound performance against Western Oregon in the title game.
Last Meeting (December 14, 2016, Honolulu):
Kiran Shastri's 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining lifted Chaminade to an 87-86 win over Seattle Pacific at McCabe Gymnasium. It was Shastri's second game-winning triple in less than two weeks, having beaten Notre Dame de Namur in the closing seconds just 12 days earlier.
Tyler Cartaino, the lone remaining Silversword on that team, had 11 points and five rebounds off the bench. The Falcons have four remaining from that squad including Coleman Wooten and Gavin Long, who each had 22 points in that game, along with Sharif Khan and Nathan Streufert.
Golden Gym Memories:
The Silverswords are very familiar with Golden Gym, sporting a 4-2 all-time record there. They are 1-2 against regional-host Point Loma in the facility including a tough 97-92 overtime loss to the Sea Lions last month. However the biggest memory for the program in the building came during the 2014 PacWest Championships when the fifth-seeded 'Swords defeated three higher-seeded squads including No. 2-seed Dominican in the championship game to capture the title and the conference's automatic berth into the West Regional.
Did You Know?:
Chaminade University has two different athletic teams playing in the postseason in the same academic year for the first time in school history (women's volleyball qualified for the regionals this past fall) … Chaminade and Seattle Pacific have five common opponents this season (Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Azusa Pacific, Concordia Irvine and Western Washington) with the 'Swords going 5-2 while the Falcons were 8-0.
