SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The postseason is about surviving and advancing.
That's exactly what the Chaminade University men's basketball team did Wednesday as they opened the 2019 Pacific West Conference Tournament at the Conlon Events Center on the Dominican University of California campus.
Grant Dressler (Las Vegas/Sacramento State/Palo Verde HS) tied his career-high with 34 points as the Silverswords survived a late Holy Names University rally with a 108-97 win in the tournament's first round. The All-PacWest First Team selectee hit four 3-pointers and was a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line, several coming in the final two minutes.
Chaminade (23-6) set single-game records for both the PacWest Tournament and a school postseason record with its output. It was also the highest combined scoring game in the history of the seven-year old conference tournament.
The third-seeded Silverswords will face No. 2 seed Concordia Irvine at 12:30 p.m. PST (10:30 a..m. HST) in Friday's first tournament semifinal game.
All-PacWest Second Team member
Erik Scheive (Marysville, Calif./Yuba College/Marysville HS) added 19 points with All-PacWest First Team honoree
Tyler Cartaino (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) adding 17.
Andre Arissol (Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood HS) provided a huge lift for the 'Swords with 17 points as well, his fifth consecutive game reaching double-digits in the scoring ledger.
Nicholas Anderson (Anaheim, Calif./Fullerton College/Canyon HS) added seven points while
Masa Swain (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine Prep), like Arissol, provided a big lift with seven points in the second half including a pair of 3-pointers.
Holy Names, making its first-ever PacWest Tournament appearance, ended its season at 12-16.
Alonzo Taylor led the Hawks with 28 points.
Dressler and Cartaino each ripped down eight rebounds while the latter posted three assists.
An uneven rim which needed replacement by Conlon Center maintenance staff delayed the tip by 30 minutes but that did not deter Holy Names which held an early 6-1 before Arissol's triple trigged a 10-0 'Swords run to put them ahead, 11-6. HNU tied it with five straight points but Cartaino's corner 3 put Chaminade ahead to stay. Scheive's triple put the Silverswords a nine-point advatage with 9:34 left in the first half but the Hawks stayed within striking distance towards the ending of half.
A 3-pointer by Arissol with a minute left helped Chaminade take a 53-48 lead at the break, its highest scoring first half this season.
An 11-0 run to start the second half helped establish a 67-50 Chaminade lead three minutes into the half. Arissol's triple started the run while Anderson added two buckets.
The 'Swords' lead swelled to as many as 20 with 6:37 left but the feisty Hawks began to grind away at the deficit. It took just two minutes to come within 10 then with 1:16 left, it was down to eight (96-88).
The Silverswords, however, calmly knocked down 12 of their last 14 tries from the foul line, including Dressler's 6-for-6 and Scheive's 4-for-4 to secure the win.
The 'Swords made over well half their shots in both halves for 59.6 percent, which is also a single-game tournament record, while holding Holy Names to 47.9. Despite being out-rebounded 37-31, Chaminade feasted at the line, making 33-of-42 including 23-of-31 in the final 20 minutes. They were also 13-of-24 from long range.
