SAN DIEGO – Heading into their four-game southern California road trip, the Chaminade University men's basketball team knew they needed to steal a game or two to help keep them alive for a potential top-two seed in the upcoming Pacific West Conference Championships.
After coming agonizingly close Saturday at No. 7 Azusa Pacific, the Silverswords made key shots and big stops defensively on Monday to pull off an 80-70 win over Point Loma, ranked No. 16 in the NABC Coaches Poll and 17 in the D2SIDA Media Poll at Golden Gymnasium.
Andre Arissol (Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood HS) buried five 3-pointers en-route to a team-high 21 points for the 'Swords who defeated a nationally-ranked foe on the road for the first time since Jan. 28, 2006 when they upended Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Ariz.
Tyler Cartaino (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) overcame a slow first half to post 17 points and five rebounds in the win, making 5-of-6 from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
Kendall Small (Lakewood, Calif./Pacific/Mayfair HS) had 15 points with eight rebounds and, after not recording an assist in his previous two games, dished out seven helpers.
All eight Silverswords who saw the floor scored at least three points.
Chaminade improved to 14-8 overall and 12-5 in the PacWest and put them a game-and-a-half behind PLNU for second place. The victory also snapped a four-game losing streak to the Sea Lions dating back to Feb. 2017.
Point Loma (17-5, 13-3 PacWest) was paced by Kaden Anderson's 21 points.
Kevin Kremer (Chico, Calif./Utah/Pleasant Valley HS) had eight points for the 'Swords with
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic), who earlier in the day was named PacWest Freshman of the Week for the third time in four weeks, adding seven.
Eliet Donley (Yokosuka, Japan/Hayfield, Va., HS) pulled down eight boards while he and Arissol had three assists each.
The 'Swords came out by hitting their four of their first five shots of the game to grab a 13-6 lead with Arissol knocking down two triples while
Roman Young (Wichita, Kan./Mineral Area College/Sunrise Christian Academy) drilled another during the run. Small's bucket gave Chaminade its largest lead of the first half at 28-18 with 8:52 left but Point Loma came surging back. A half-ending 22-10 run by PLNU helped give the home team a 45-41 edge at the break.
The Sea Lions scored the first four points of the second half to give them their largest lead of the game at 49-41. But later, Small's dish to a cutting Cartaino for a flush put the 'Swords ahead to stay, part of a 10-0 run capped by Arissol's triple.
As expected, the Sea Lions battled back and got to within 66-63 at the 6:53 mark but Donlely's two free throws and Arissol's fifth 3-ball helped give the 'Swords a 71-63 lead. Chaminade would match Point Loma score-for-score and forced PLNU to go 1-for-5 from the floor in the game's final two minutes to keep the game out of reach.
Chaminade shot 52.5 percent from the field (32-of-61) and held Point Loma to 42.9 (27-of-63). The 'Swords made 10-of-23 from 3-point range and held the Sea Lions to just 6-of-16 from long distance. Point Loma entered Monday leading the PacWest in 3-point percentage at nearly 40 percent and No. 2 in 3-pointers made at nine per game.
The 'Swords slightly controlled the glass, 35-32, and in the assists department, 18-13 but outscored Point Loma, 18-0, off the bench and 19-10 off turnovers.
The Silverswords will remain on the road and resume action Thursday at Biola.
