AZUSA, Calif. – Monday's Chaminade University men's basketball game at Azusa Pacific was nearly a mirror image of Saturday's contest in La Mirada, Calif.
Like the scene at Biola just 48 hours earlier, the Silverswords found themselves having to battle back from a large deficit.
And like Saturday's game against the Eagles, the hole proved too steep to climb.
Trailing by as many as 23 points in the second half, the 'Swords rallied late before falling short to the Cougars, 84-76, at the Felix Event Center. Azusa Pacific used a 31-8 run during a 12-minute period spanning the first and second halves to pull out the win.
Zach McIntire (Delaware, Ohio/Mercyhurst University/Delaware Hayes HS) and Isaac Amaral-Arthraee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) combined for 57 of Chaminade's points in the loss. McIntire hit 14-of-23 shots from the floor for a career-high 35 points, surpassing his previous high of 28 he had in his junior year at Mercyhurst University.
Amaral-Artharee added a season-high 22, drilling five 3-pointers for the Silverswords who fell to 8-10 overall and 6-6 in the Pacific West Conference. With the PacWest announcing earlier in the day to expand March's conference tournament by two teams to eight, the 'Swords are currently occupying the eighth and final spot with five weeks remaining in the regular season (the top eight will be determined by winning percentage with a minimum of 70 percent of conference games completed).
APU got 17 points, six steals and five assists from Hayden Gray to improve to 8-6 overall and 5-2 in the PacWest.
McIntire and Amaral-Artharee combined for the 'Swords' first eight points of the game while a flush from
Tredyn Christensen (Eagle Mountain, Utah/Snow College/Westlake HS) helped the 'Swords open up an early 10-5 lead. APU marched back on an 18-7 run to grab a six-point edge but at the 7-minute, 4-second mark, an Amaral-Artharee triple knotted the game at 24. However the Cougars ended the half on a 16-3 run, taking a 40-27 lead at the break. Chaminade was held without a field goal during that stretch while giving it away five times.
The momentum seemed to carry to the second half where APU opened with a 15-5 surge, giving them their largest lead of the game at 55-32 with 15:25 remaining.
However Amaral-Artharee and McIntire sank three consecutive treys, outscoring the Cougars 19-7 over the next six minutes with McIntire accounting for eight points while
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) had six during the run.
Chaminade continued to chip away and with two minutes left, Amaral-Artharee got a steal in the Cougars' backcourt and buried his final 3-pointer at the top of the key to cut the deficit to single digits at 77-69. McIntire's 3-ball and a layup by
Kevin Kremer (Chico, Calif./University of Utah/Pleasant Valley HS) would twice bring the 'Swords to within six inside the final 40 seconds but it would be as close as they got.
With 12 seconds left, the game was called when a power outage put the arena in darkness.
Kremer pulled down a team-high six rebounds for Chaminade, which out-rebounded APU 32-to-24. Watkins dished out six of the 'Swords' 17 assists. The 'Swords were 10-of-25 from 3-point range and made 8-of-9 free throws.
The Cougars countered their rebound deficiency by hitting nearly 56 percent from the floor including 61 percent (14-of-23) in the second half. They went to the foul line 22 times, making 17.
The Silverswords will continue their Southern California road trip Thursday at Concordia University Irvine. Only pre-approved spectators on team pass lists are allowed at CU Arena. There will be no general admittance to both men's and women's games.
