FRESNO, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's basketball team is probably glad their nearly two-week long road trip is ending.
Forty-eight hours after suffering an agonizing loss at Concordia Irvine, the Silverswords were dealt another close defeat, this time to Fresno Pacific at the FPU Special Event Center.
Aamonde Coleman hit the game-winning free throw after drawing a foul off a desperation pass with one-tenth of a second remaining to lift the Sunbirds to a 77-76 win over the Silverswords who finished with a 2-3 record on the mainland portion of the road trip. In the first meeting in Honolulu back on Jan. 6, the 'Swords escaped with a 74-73 win.
Eliet Donley (Yokosuka, Japan/Hayfield, Va., HS) and
Kevin Kremer (Chico, Calif./Utah/Pleasant Valley HS), who came off the bench, each had 14 points for Chaminade which fell to 15-10 overall and 13-7 in the Pacific West Conference. They are also just 1-6 in games decided by four points or less.
The loss took on even greater meaning after Concordia was upset at home by Dominican, leaving the 'Swords still two games behind the third-place Eagles who have a 13-5 conference record. Chaminade, which already qualified for the upcoming PacWest Tournament, has two games left on the regular season while the Eagles have four.
Kendall Small (Lakewood, Calif./Pacific/Mayfair HS) and
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) each added 12 for the 'Swords. All seven Chaminade players who played had eight points and made two field goals.
Coleman led Fresno Pacific with 26 points. The Sunbirds are 10-16 overall and, with an 8-12 conference mark, are still alive for the sixth and final spot in the PacWest Tournament.
The game featured 13 ties and 10 lead changes, most of them coming in the second half.
Playing without the PacWest's leading scorer in
Tyler Cartaino (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) who was injured early in the second half at Concordia, the 'Swords trailed for much of the first half and were down by as many as 10 (36-26) at the 3:23 mark. Amaral-Artharee's 3-pointer helped spark a half-ending 12-2 run with Kremer's layup forcing a 38-all deadlock heading into the locker room.
Chaminade took its first lead of the game on the second half's opening possession on a 12-foot straight-away jumper by
Andre Arissol (Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood HS). Later with the 'Swords trailing 45-43,
Bill Awet (Sydney, Australia/SIU Edwardsville/Victory Rock Prep, Fla., HS) got into the action with two layups, a rebound and one of his game-high three blocked shots to give CUH its largest lead of the game of 51-46 at the 13:41 mark of the second half.
But FPU rallied back and tied it at 57. From that point, there were five more ties and nine lead changes with both teams hitting clutch shots. Kremer's layup gave the Silverswords a 76-73 lead with 1:03 left.
Roman Young (Wichita, Kan./Mineral Area College/Sunrise Christian Academy) then stole Coleman's inbounds pass but the 'Swords couldn't get the much-needed score to get a two-possession lead.
Fresno Pacific then made them pay when Sean Nealon-Lino hit a triple with 17 seconds left to force a 76-all tie. Young couldn't get the potential go-ahead layup to fall with the rebound going off a Chaminade player with 0.5 seconds left.
That set up a full-court desperation heave towards Coleman just inside the 3-point arc. But Donley was called for making contact with 0.1 seconds left, sending the PacWest's No. 2 scorer to the line. Coleman missed the first free throw, which added to the drama, but he made the second to give the Sunbirds the win and keep their postseason hopes alive for one more day.
Chaminade finished with a 48.1 shooting percentage, making 26-of-54 shots from the floor and 20-of-24 free throws. Fresno Pacific made 29-of-56 field goals for a 51.8 percentile including 8-of-18 from long range. Rebounds and assists were near-even at 27-26 and 12-11, respectively, in favor of FPU. The 'Swords outscored the Sunbirds 25-16 off turnovers, 18-5 in fast-breaks and 22-9 off the bench.
The Silverswords return home for their final two regular season games, both coming against the in-state rivals. They face Hawai'i Pacific University on Tuesday, Feb. 25, and the University of Hawai'i Hilo on Thursday, Feb. 27.
