SAN DIEGO – The Chaminade University men's basketball team closed out their five-game Southern California road jaunt Saturday by ending the trip where they began; at Point Loma.
The Silverswords took that Jan. 20 game on a game-winning 3-pointer by
Sawyer Storms (Idaho Fall, Idaho/College of Southern Idaho/Idaho Falls HS) with 8 seconds left and were looking for a repeat.
The rematch, however, was not as kind.
After a solid first half, the 'Swords went into a second-half funk, shooting just 25.8 percent in the last 20 minutes to drop a 72-57 decision to Point Loma at Golden Gymnasium.
Chaminade found the bottom of the net just five times in the first 12 minutes of the second half, finishing 8-of-31 in the second stanza.
The 'Swords lost the last four games of the road trip to fall to 8-12 overall and 6-8 in the Pacific West Conference. However, Chaminade played in its 14th PacWest game to become the first team in the conference – men or women – to become eligible for the recently-expanded PacWest Championship in March.
Teams must complete 70 percent of its conference schedule (14 games) in order to be tournament-eligible. The top eight teams in both tournaments will qualify with seeding based on winning percentage due to the number of postponements and likely cancelations in the final month of regular season play.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) led the 'Swords with 14 points while
Tredyn Christensen (Eagle Mountain, Utah/Snow College/Westlake HS) had nine points, a season-high 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Paris Taylor (Bolivar, Tenn./University of Wisconsin Green Bay/Central HS) and
Zach McIntire (Delaware, Ohio/Mercyhurst University/Delaware Hayes HS) had eight points each.
Joseph Smoyer (Portland, Ore./Columbia University/Franklin HS) chipped in with eight and added a block to his conference-leading total of 30.
Point Loma got 19 points from both Kaden Anderson and Ben Okhotin to improve to 12-8 and 8-4 in the conference. Anderson, the reigning PacWest Player of the Year, also pulled down 10 boards.
Trailing 29-28 at the six-minute mark, Taylor, Watkins, McIntire and Amaral-Artharee each knocked down shots as part of an 8-0 run to stake the 'Swords to their largest lead of the first half at seven (36-29). Okhotin hit a triple with 29 seconds left to reduce their lead to 36-32 at the end of the first 20 minutes which might have been a sign of things to come.
A highly efficient opening half, at one point midway through, both teams were shooting over 60 percent from the field before shooting percentages dipped somewhat towards halftime. Chaminade still shot 55 percent (15-of-27) while Point Loma was at a respectable 48 percent (12-of-25).
But the Silverswords couldn't sustain their efficiency. The game's turning point was Point Loma's 11-0 run which made it 58-46 with 9:24 remaining to which Chaminade never recovered.
The 'Swords ended up with a game percentage of 39.7, hit six 3-pointers and had a one-rebound edge over PLNU (32-to-31).
The Sea Lions made 46.3 percent of their shots, made nine triples and sank all 13 free throw tries.
The Silverswords will get a much-needed week off before starting their final four-game home stand of the season when they host Azusa Pacific on Monday, Feb. 7. The game tips off at 6:30 p.m., an hour ahead than usual to allow APU to make their return flight to the mainland later that evening.
