AZUSA, Calif. – For over 20 minutes on Friday, the Chaminade University men's basketball team was putting on a show against Point Loma, the defending Pacific West Conference and West Region champions and the 2019 NCAA Division II national runners-up.
But a 10-minute stretch to start the second half, coincided by their floor general on the bench in foul trouble, spelled doom for the third-seeded Silverswords, who dropped an 83-74 decision to the No. 2-seeded Sea Lions in the PacWest Tournament semifinals at the Felix Event Center. It also denied them their first trip to the championship game since 2014.
The 'Swords, who owned as many as a 15-point lead in the first half, got stellar performances by seniors
Eliet Donley (Yokosuka, Japan/Hayfield, Va., HS) and
Kendall Small (Lakewood, Calif./Pacific/Mayfair HS) in what may be their final games in Chaminade uniforms.
Donley lit up the Sea Lions for a career-high 29 points. Small added 22 points with seven rebounds and three assists despite playing just over 18 minutes after picking up four fouls in the game's first 20 minutes and 11 seconds.
Roman Young (Wichita, Kan./Mineral Area College/Sunrise Christian Academy) had six points and three assists for Chaminade with
Kevin Kremer (Chico, Calif./Utah/Pleasant Valley HS) pulling down seven boards in the loss.
Just 24 hours after drilling a season-high 15 3-pointers, Chaminade, which fell to 18-11 on the season, was ice-cold from distance, making just 4-of-19 on Friday.
Ranked 10th in the final regular season West Region rankings, the 'Swords still have a small glimmer of hope to earn one of the five at-large bids to next week's regional. This after Western Oregon (ranked No. 7) and Cal State San Bernardino (No. 8) were upset in the first rounds of their respective conference tournaments, meaning Chaminade is still on the proverbial bubble.
Point Loma (23-6) got 20 points each from Kaden Anderson and Brock Mackenzie to advance to Saturday's championship final for the second consecutive year. The Sea Lions outscored the 'Swords 56-38 in the second half, in large part to making 8-of-15 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes, and 13 treys overall.
Point Loma will face Biola (19-11) in the title game. The Eagles upset No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific in the other semifinal, snapping the Cougars' 20-game winning streak.
"It was definitely a game of runs," Silverswords head coach
Eric Bovaird said. "I thought we were playing really well in the first half, everything was clicking and felt really good going into halftime.
"But everybody can see whenever (Small) isn't in the game, things are different. Everything we do from pushing the tempo, to playing defense, everything."
Chaminade could do very little wrong in the first half, particularly Donley who hit his first five shots of the game including three 3-pointers. He accounted for half of the 'Swords points while Small had eight more as they opened up a 26-11 lead with 7:36 left in the first half.
But in a sign of things to come, Point Loma sank two triples in the final minute to shave its deficit to 36-27 at halftime.
Their momentum seemed carried over into the second half, although it did not help Chaminade's cause that Small picked up his fourth personal just 11 seconds in.
With the PacWest Defender of the Year on the bench, the Sea Lions took advantage and went on an 11-2 run to tie it 38. They went ahead for the first time in the game at 43-41 on a baseline triple from Mackenzie, who beat the 'Swords on a 3-pointer on Jan. 8 in Honolulu.
Point Loma buried six triples in the first eight minutes of the second half while Anderson's layup gave the Sea Lions their first double-digit lead of the game (55-45) at the 10:25 mark.
With the game on the verge of slipping away, Small returned with just under nine minutes left to play and his reinsertion lit a spark for Chaminade. He had five points as part of a 9-0 run as the 'Swords got within a point (57-56) at the 7:23 mark.
"I give our guys credit," Bovaird said. "Those runs that (PLNU) went on could have really put the nail in the coffin. They didn't give up … and battled to the end."
But while Small kept finding paths to the basket, Mackenzie answered with 3-pointers on the opposite end to keep PLNU in front.
After two free throws from Small reduced the margin to 66-64 with 4:40 left, Point Loma held the 'Swords to 0-for-7 from the floor while going on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to ice the game away.
"I give Point Loma credit," Bovaird said. "We kind of jumped on 'em … and they battled back, didn't give up and made it a good game."
In the end, the 'Swords' inability to match Point Loma's long-range shooting was the difference. CUH did not make a single triple (0-for-8) in the second half while PLNU was 8-of-15 in the same span.
The Silverswords shot 43.3 percent from the floor (29 of 67) and made 12-of-17 free throws while the Sea Lions were at 46.8 (29 of 62) and 12 of 16 from the charity stripe. The 'Swords pulled down 39 boards to Point Loma's 36 but the Sea Lions had 19 assists to Chaminade's eight.
Chaminade's nine-point loss was its biggest to another Division II school this season. Previously, their largest margin of defeat to a fellow D-II was seven at Academy of Art on Dec. 15. The 'Swords also had a six-point loss to Biola (in quadruple overtime) and a four-point defeat to Azusa Pacific in the same building in early February. Their four other losses were either by one or two points and their total margin of defeat in all eight D-II losses this season are a grand total of 43 points.
"They had a great year," Bovaird said of his team. "They have aspirations of winning a national championship as we all do but we will always look back, especially this group of guys and these four seniors (Small, Donley,
Andre Arissol [Northampton, England/Otero JC/Charnwood HS] and
Tyler Cartaino [Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park]). They were special."
The NCAA Division II Selection Show will be Sunday at 4:30 p.m. Hawai'i time and can be viewed on NCAA.com.
